Measurement and Modeling of Hydrogen Sulfide Lagoon Emissions from a Swine Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation

Abstract

Hydrogen sulfide (H2S) emissions were determined from an anaerobic lagoon at a swine concentrated animal feeding operation (CAFO) in North Carolina. Measurements of H2S were made continuously from an anaerobic lagoon using a dynamic flow-through chamber for ∼ 1 week during each of the four seasonal periods from June 2007 through April 2008. H2S lagoon fluxes were highest in the summer with a flux of 3.81 ± 3.24 μg m(-2) min(-1) and lowest in the winter with a flux of 0.08 ± 0.09 μg m(-2) min(-1). An air-manure interface (A-MI) mass transfer model was developed to predict H2S manure emissions. The accuracy of the A-MI mass transfer model in predicting H2S manure emissions was comprehensively evaluated by comparing the model predicted emissions to the continuously measured lagoon emissions using data from all four seasonal periods. In comparison to this measurement data, the A-MI mass transfer model performed well in predicting H2S fluxes with a slope of 1.13 and an r(2) value of 0.60, and a mean bias value of 0.655 μg m(-2) min(-1). The A-MI mass transfer model also performed fairly well in predicting diurnal H2S lagoon flux trends.