Original Articles Open access

Evaluation of ammonia emissions from filtration of digestate used for fertigation

Authors

Published
30 September 2021
Section
Original Articles
DOI
10.4081/jae.2021.1187

Abstract

Fertigation can be a suitable technique for utilizing digestate, minimizing nitrogen losses, and contributing to circularity within a farming system. For this purpose, digestate usually is first processed with a screw-press separator. However, further filtration is required to remove particles that could clog the nozzles of drip or sprinkling irrigation systems. Advanced filtration can be obtained using mechanical separation with screens having openings of 100- 300 μm. This operation can be another source of ammonia emission, but this aspect has not been adequately investigated. This study aimed to address this knowledge gap by evaluating the emissions from three different filtration systems for digestate. The study was conducted in three different farms located in Lombardy (Italy) using digestate to fertigate maize by drip irrigation (two farms) and pivot irrigation (one farm). Ammonia emissions were measured with passive samplers and the fluxes were examined using an inverse dispersion model implemented in Windtrax software. The emissions were measured both when the filtration systems were in operation and when they were switched off. Ammonia emissions (mean values between 375 and 876 μg NH3/m2/s) tended to increase during operation of the filtration systems. However, no significant differences were found in the emissions from active and inactive equipment on any of the farms. The emissions from the filtration systems were higher than from a storage tank (22-67 μg NH3/m2/s). However, the mean emissions amounted to only 0.3% of the nitrogen content of the digestate. These emissions can be considered irrelevant in the context of the whole management scheme for digestate. This work provides a first insight on ammonia emissions arising from advanced filtration of digestate, with specific reference to Po Valley farming systems. Further studies are required to improve knowledge about emissions from the entire digestate management process, including the treatments required for specific application techniques.

Keywords

References

  1. Aneja V.P., Chauhan J.P., Walker J.T. 2000. Characterization of atmospheric ammonia emissions from swine waste storage and treatment lagoons. J. Geophys. Res. 105:11535-45. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1029/2000JD900066
  2. APHA/AWWA/WEF, 2012. Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater. Stand. Methods: 541.
  3. Balsari P., Dinuccio E., Gioelli F. 2013. A floating coverage system for digestate liquid fraction storage. Bioresour. Technol. 134:285-9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2013.02.021
  4. Bell M.W., Tang Y.S., Dragosits U., Flechard C.R., Ward P., Braban C.F. 2016. Ammonia emissions from an anaerobic digestion plant estimated using atmospheric measurements and dispersion modelling. Waste Manag. 56:113-24. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2016.06.002
  5. Carozzi M., Ferrara R.M., Rana G., Acutis M. 2013. Evaluation of mitigation strategies to reduce ammonia losses from slurry fertilisation on arable lands. Sci. Total Environ. 449:126-33. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2012.12.082
  6. EMEP/EEA, 2019. Air pollutant emission inventory guidebook 2019. Technical guidance to prepare national emission inventories. Appendix 3.D. Crop production and agricultural soils, pp. 1-38. Available from: https://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/emep-eea-guidebook-2019/part-b-sectoral-guidancechapters/4-agriculture
  7. European Commission, 2017. Best Available Techniques (BAT) Reference Document for the Intensive Rearing of Poultry or Pigs. Inst. Prospect. Technol. Stud. Eur. IPPC Bur.:855. Available from: http://eippcb.jrc.ec.europa.eu/reference/BREF/IRPP_Final_Draft_082015_bw.pdf
  8. EUROSTAT, 2017. Agri-environmental indicator - greenhouse gas emissions, pp. 1-12. Available from: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/statistics-explained/index.php?title=Archive:Agri-environmental_indicator_-_greenhouse_gas_emissions
  9. Ferrara R.M., Carozzi M., Di Tommasi P., Nelson D.D., Fratini G., Bertolini T., Magliulo V., Acutis M., Rana G. 2016. Dynamics of ammonia volatilisation measured by eddy covariance during slurry spreading in north Italy. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 219:1-13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2015.12.002
  10. Finzi A., Riva E., Bicoku A., Guido V., Shallari S., Provolo G. 2019. Comparison of techniques for ammonia emission mitigation during storage of livestock manure and assessment of their effect in the management chain. J. Agric. Eng. 50. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4081/jae.2019.881
  11. Flesch T.K., Wilson J.D., Harper L.A., Crenna B.P., Sharpe R.R. 2004. Deducing ground-to-air emissions from observed trace gas concentrations: A field trial. J. Appl. Meteorol. 43:487-502. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1175/1520-0450(2004)043<0487:DGEFOT>2.0.CO;2
  12. Gioelli F., Dinuccio E., Balsari P. 2011. Residual biogas potential from the storage tanks of non-separated digestate and digested liquid fraction. Bioresour. Technol. 102:10248-51. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2011.08.076
  13. Guido V, Finzi A, Ferrari O, Riva E, Quílez D, Herrero E, Provolo G, 2020a. Fertigation of maize with digestate using drip irrigation and pivot systems. Agronomy. 10 [Epub ahead of print]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/agronomy10101453
  14. Guido V., Finzi A., Piazzi P., Ferrari O., Righi Ricco C., Riva E., Provolo G. 2020b. Effect of mitigation techniques on ammonia emissions and nutrients recovery: the role of fertigation with digestate. ‘2020 IEEE International Workshop on Metrology for Agriculture and Forestry (MetroAgriFor)’, pp. 39-43. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1109/MetroAgriFor50201.2020.9277608
  15. Guilayn F., Jimenez J., Rouez M., Crest M., Patureau D. 2019. Digestate mechanical separation: Efficiency profiles based on anaerobic digestion feedstock and equipment choice. Bioresour. Technol. 274:180-9. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biortech.2018.11.090
  16. Hanson B.R., Šimůnek J., Hopmans J.W. 2006. Evaluation of urea-ammonium-nitrate fertigation with drip irrigation using numerical modeling. Agric. Water Manag. 86:102-13. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agwat.2006.06.013
  17. Hill R.A., Smith K., Russell K., Misselbrook T., Brookman S. 2008. Emissions of ammonia from weeping wall stores and earth-banked lagoons determined using passive sampling and atmospheric dispersion modelling. J. Atmos. Chem. 59:83-98. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10874-007-9077-7
  18. Kupper T., Häni C., Neftel A., Kincaid C., Bühler M., Amon B., VanderZaag A. 2020. Ammonia and greenhouse gas emissions from slurry storage - A review. Agric. Ecosyst. Environ. 300 [Epub ahead of print]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2020.106963
  19. Pacholski A. 2016. Calibrated passive sampling - Multi-plot field measurements of NH3 emissions with a combination of dynamic tube method and passive samplers. J. Vis. Exp. 2016:1-15. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3791/53273
  20. Petersen S.O., Lind A.M., Sommer S.G. 1998. Nitrogen and organic matter losses during storage of cattle and pig manure. J. Agric. Sci. 130:69-79. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S002185969700508X
  21. Phillips V.R., Lee D.S., Scholtens R., Garland J.A., Sneath R.W. 2001. A review of methods for measuring emission rates of ammonia from livestock buildings and slurry or manure stores, part 2: Monitoring flux rates, concentrations and airflow rates. J. Agric. Eng. Res. 78:1-14. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1006/jaer.2000.0618
  22. Rabaud N.E., James T.A., Ashbaugh L.L., Flocchini R.G. 2001. A passive sampler for the determination of airborne ammonia concentrations near large-scale animal facilities. Environ. Sci. Technol. 35:1190-6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1021/es0012624
  23. Riva C., Orzi V., Carozzi M., Acutis M., Boccasile G., Lonati S., Tambone F., D’Imporzano G., Adani F. 2016. Short-term experiments in using digestate products as substitutes for mineral (N) fertilizer: Agronomic performance, odours, and ammonia emission impacts. Sci. Total Environ. 547:206-14. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2015.12.156
  24. Rotz C.A., Montes F., Hafner S.D., Heber A.J., Grant R.H. 2014. Ammonia emission model for whole farm evaluation of dairy production systems. J. Environ. Qual. 43:1143-58. DOI: https://doi.org/10.2134/jeq2013.04.0121
  25. Scotto Di Perta E., Fiorentino N., Carozzi M., Cervelli E., Pindozzi S. 2020. A review of chamber and micrometeorological methods to quantify NH3 emissions from fertilisers field application. Int. J. Agron. 2020 [Epub ahead of print]. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1155/2020/8909784
  26. Truong A.H., Kim M.T., Nguyen T.T., Nguyen N.T., Nguyen Q.T. 2018. Methane, nitrous oxide and ammonia emissions from livestock farming in the Red River Delta, Vietnam: An inventory and projection for 2000-2030. Sustain. 10. DOI: https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints201809.0600.v1
  27. Verdi L., Mancini M., Ljubojevic M., Orlandini S., Marta A.D. 2018. Greenhouse gas and ammonia emissions from soil: The effect of organic matter and fertilisation method. Ital. J. Agron. 13:260-6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.4081/ija.2018.1124
  28. Wagner S., Angenendt E., Beletskaya O., Zeddies J. 2017. Assessing ammonia emission abatement measures in agriculture: Farmers’ costs and society’s benefits - A case study for Lower Saxony, Germany. Agric. Syst. 157:70-80. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agsy.2017.06.008
  29. Wolf U., Fuß R., Höppner F., Flessa H. 2014. Contribution of N2O and NH3 to total greenhouse gas emission from fertilization: Results from a sandy soil fertilized with nitrate and biogas digestate with and without nitrification inhibitor. Nutr. Cycl. Agroecosystems 100:121-34. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10705-014-9631-z
  30. Zilio M., Orzi V., Chiodini M.E., Riva C., Acutis M., Boccasile G., Adani F. 2020. Evaluation of ammonia and odour emissions from animal slurry and digestate storage in the Po Valley (Italy). Waste Manag. 103:296-304. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wasman.2019.12.038

Metrics

Citations and online attention from Dimensions, Altmetric and PlumX.

PlumX Metrics

License

Copyright (c) 2021 the Author(s)

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

PAGEPress has chosen to apply the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0) to all manuscripts to be published.