United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Air and Energy Engineering
Research Laboratory
Research Triangle Park, NC 27711
Research and Development
EPA/600/S7-90/014 Aug. 1990
SEPA Project Summary
Development and Selection of
Ammonia Emission
Factors for the 1985 NAPAP
Emissions Inventory
T. E. Warn, S. Zelmanowitz, and M. Seager
The report, prepared for the
National Acid Precipitation
Assessment Program (NAPAP),
identifies the most appropriate
ammonia (NH3) emission factors
available for inclusion in the 1985
NAPAP Emissions Inventory. NH3
emission factors developed for
several new NAPAP source
categories were compared with
factors developed for other
inventories. The factors determined
to be the most accurate for each
category are presented. NH3
emissions estimates, based on 1985
activity levels and the emission
factors presented in the report, are
summarized. The total NH3 emissions
included in the inventory are
1,685,473 tons per year (TPY).
Emissions factors and estimates of
NH3 emissions are given for three
categories that were not included in
the inventory: human breath,
cigarette smoke, and human
perspiration. Emission factors and/or
activity levels for these categories
were not sufficiently reliable to justify
their inclusion in the inventory. The
issue of NH3 emissions from wildlife
excrement is of particular concern.
The report and other NAPAP research
suggest that the net contribution of
wildlife resources to the ambient
concentrations of NH3 is zero. The
additional NAPAP research suggests
that any NH3 emissions from wildlife
are reabsorbed into the natural
biomass, resulting in a net release to
the atmosphere of zero; therefore,
ammonia emission 'factors equal to
zero are given in the report. This
position conflicts with studies that
recommend the application of NH3
emission factors for wildlife, thereby
suggesting that NH3 releases from
wildlife sources may be significant
Clearly further research is required to
resolve this issue. The most
significant NH3 emissions sources
were livestock wastes, wastewater
treatment, and ammonium nitrate
manufacture, accounting for more
than 83% of the total 1985 emissions.
Emission factors for these major NH3
sources were assigned low
confidence ratings, indicating that a
more comprehensive and reliable
NH3 emissions database for several
significant source categories is
needed.
This Project Summary was
developed by EPA's Air and Energy
Engineering Research Laboratory,
Research Triangle Park, NC, to
announce key findings of the research
project that is fully documented in a
separate report of the same title (see
Project Report ordering information at
back).
Introduction
A major goal of the National Acid
Precipitation Assessment Program
(NAPAP) is the development of a
comprehensive and accurate emissions
inventory for pollutants which are
believed to play a major role in the
chemistry of acid , deposition. Ammonia
(NH3) has been identified for inclusion in
this inventory.
The purpose of this study was to
identify the most appropriate NH3
emission factors available for inclusion in
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tho 1985 NAPAP Emissions Inventory.
This involved developing NH3 emission
factors for source categories not covered
under a previous NAPAP effort and
comparing emission factors developed in
inventories prepared for NAPAP, the
Canadian Environmental Protection
Service (EPS), the Electric Power
Research Institute (EPRI). and the NASA
Langley Research Center.
In this investigation, NH3 emission
factors were developed for range animal
wastes, wildlife excrement, cigarette
smoking, human breath, human
perspiration, and wastewater treatment.
These categories, in addition to forest
fires, were previously identified as
potentially large NH3 emissions sources.
Relevant data were not available for
developing an NH3 emission factor for
forest fires.
Though a few of the new NH3 emission
factors developed in this study may be
considered natural NH3 sources, most
natural source NH3 emission factors were
developed under a separate NAPAP
effort by the National Oceanic And
Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
The newly developed NAPAP factors
were rated (A:highest-E:lowest) according
to several criteria including the validity of
the test methods used, the age of the
data, and the representativeness of the
database. Appendix A discusses these
criteria in detail. All of the new NAPAP
factors were assigned the lowest rating of
E, except for factors developed for
human breath and cigarette smoking
which were assigned ratings of D and C,
respectively.
Activity levels representative of the
1985 base year were used to estimate
total emissions by source category. For
wildlife excrement, reliable population
data were not available.
The comparison of NH3 emission
factors developed by NAPAP, EPS, EPRI,
and NASA was based on the same
criteria which were used to rate the
NAPAP factors (see Appendix A of the
full report). For all source categories, the
original NAPAP factors were chosen as
the best available for inclusion in the
1985 NAPAP Inventory. Table 1
summarizes the NH3 emission factors
selected, their ratings, 1985 activity
levels, and 1985 emissions estimates.
Although NH3 emission factors are
presented in Table 1 for wildlife
excrement, cigarette smoking, human
breath and human perspiration,
emissions for these categories were not
included in the 1985 NAPAP Emissions
Inventory. The decision to exclude these
emissions from the inventory was
justified by one or more of the following
reasons:
Conflicting research results upon
which the 'emission factors were
based contributed significant
uncertainty for the application to the
NAPAP program.
Activity rate data were either
unavailable or unreliable.
Calculated emissions magnitude
were too small to be of interest to the
NAPAP program.
The decision to exclude NH3 emissions
from wildlife excrement was based on
concerns related to both the sources of
data used to develop the emission factors
and the uncertainty in estimates of
activity rate data. This study and
subsequent NAPAP research suggest
that the net contribution of NH3 from
wildlife excrement is zero. This position
conflicts with other research results which
have recommended the application of
emission factors for NH3 from wildlife
sources, suggesting that NH3 emissions
from wildlife sources may be significant.
The emission totals by source category
indicate that 48 percent of the 1985 NH3
emissions are ! due to range animal
wastes. The top four categories, range
animal wastes, livestock waste
management, ammonium nitrate
production, and wastewater treatment
accounted for 85 percent of the total
calculated 1985 ammonia emissions.
However, the emission factors for these
categories received low confidence
ratings. This indicates a need for more
accurate and comprehensive NH3
emissions data for many significant NH3
source categories.
Major conclusions of this study are:
1. Comparison of NH3 emission factors
developed for NAPAP, EPS, EPRI
and NASA resulted in the
recommendation of a set of factors
for the 1985 NAPAP Inventory. In
each category the original NAPAP
emission factor was found to
represent the best available data.
2. Total NH3 emissions for 1985 can be
broken down as follows:
range animal wastes (48.0
percent)
livestock waste management (23.2
percent)
ammonium nitrate production (7.6
percent)
wastewater treatment (4.6
percent)
other categories (16.6 percent)
3. A more accurate and comprehensive
NH3 emissions database should be
developed for:
range animal wastes
human breath and perspiration
livestock waste management
ammonium nitrate manufacture
wildlife wastes
mobile sources
wastewater treatment
coal and fuel oil combustion
* forest fires
coke manufacture
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Table 1. Summary of Ammonia Emission Factors Chosen for the 1985 NAPAP Emissions Inventory
Emission factor (Ib
Source emitted/unit)3 Activity rateb Units
Livestock Wastes
Beef cattle feedlots
Cropland spreading
beef cattle
dairy cows
swine
sheep
laying hens
broilers
turkeys
Combustion Sources
Coal
Fuel oil
Natural gas
utility boilers
industrial boilers
commercial boilers
Mobile Sources
Gasoline
leaded gasoline
. unleaded gasoline
Diesel
Ammonium Nitrate Manufacture
Neutralizer
anulator
high density prilling
low density prilling
Solids formation
evaporation/concentration
high density
low density
high density prill towers
low density prill towers
rotary drum granulators
high density prill coolers
low density prill coolers
low density prill dryers
granulator coolers
Anhydrous Ammonia Fertilizer
Application
Petroleum Refineries
FCC units
TCC units
Reciprocating engine compressors
Ammonia Synthesis
Carbon dioxide regeneration
Condensate stripping
Urea Manufacture
Solution formation/concentration
Solids formation
nonfluidized bed prilling
agricultural grade
fluidized bed prilling
agricultural grade
feed grade
drum granulation
rotary drum cooler
13
1.7
27
4.3
1.9
0.34
0.043
0.29
0.00056
0.8
3.2
3.2
0.49
0.42
0.63
0.95
18°
18°
18e
17<>
17°
57.2
0.26
59.4
0.04
0.30
7.6<»
t.rse
19
54
6
0.2
2.0
2.2
18.2
0.87
2.9
4.1
2.2
0.0051
2.3X107
6.5x706
4.5 X706
4.9x107
1.9X106
2.9x108
S.OxW8
3.9X107
8.4x108
3.4x107
3.5X706
1.1 x107
7.3x106
5.3X107
5.9X107
2.8x107
1.9x106
2.4x106
9.0x105
5.8x105
3.2x105
2.4x106
6.4X105
1.4X105
7.2x105
0
1.5X105
0
5.4x706
7.6x706
7.7x70-*
NAK
4.9X706
3.7X706
4.8x106
0
5.2x1 0s
1.0x10"
2.6x108
4.1x105
animals
animals
animals
animals
animals
animals
animals
animals
tons coal
I03gallons fuel
70« ft3 gas
706 ft3 gas
706 ft3 gas
703 gallons fuel
103 gallons fuel
103 gallons fuel
tons produced
tons produced
tons produced
tons produced
tons produced
tons produced
tons produced
tons produced
tons produced
tons produced
tons produced
tons produced
tons fertilizer
103barrels fresh feed
I03barrels fresh feed
103 ft3 gas burned
tons produced
tons produced
tons produced
tons produced
tons produced
tons produced
tons produced
tons produced
7985
Emissions
(tons/yr)c
151,549
5,541
60,736
105,457
1,809
49,839
10,781
5,579
235
13,563
5,703
17,788
1,800
11,168
18,646
13,296
17,818
21,820
8,080
4,905
2,726
68,244
83
4,011
16
0
116
0
50,988
42,793
52
NA
4,896
3,464
44,122
0
749
21
2,897
0.1
Emission
factor rating d
E
E
E
E
E
E
E
E
E
E
C
C
C
D
D
E
Df
Of
D'
0f
D'
A
A
D'
A
A
Df
Df
C
B
B
B
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
A
(continued)
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I
Table 1. (Continued)
Source
Emission factor (lab
emitted unit)3
Activity rateb
Units
1985
Emissions Emission
(tonslyr)0 factor ratingd
Coke Manufacture
Ovon charging
Door leaks
Coko pushing
Quenching (contaminated water)
0.02
0.06
0.1
0.28
3.6x1 07
' 2.1 x107
2.7x107
2.7x1 07
tons coal charged
tons coal charged
tons coal charged
tons coal charged
358
645
1,364
3,525
D
D
D
D
Ammnium Phosphate
Manufacture
Range Animal Excrement
Beef cattle
Dairy cattle
Swine
Sheep
Wastewater Treatment
Wildlife Excrements
Big Game
0.14
44.4
45.0
39.0
4.5
19.0
8.2x106 tons P2Os produced 571
2.6x106 unconfined pop 578,890
4.9x106 unconfined pop 109,725
4.8x106 unconfined pop 94,593
1.0X107 unconfined pop 22,606
8.2x106 106 gallons 77,762
carnivores
herbivores
Birds
Cigarette Smoking'
Human Breath1
Smokers
Non-smokers
Human perspiration1
0.0
0.0
0.0
1.8
9.1
12.0
0.55
NA
NA
NA
. 7.5x1 07
7.5x1 07
1.5x108
2.3x108
kg animal
kg animal
kg animal
103 smokers
103 smokers
1 03 non-smokers
person
NA
NA
NA
68
340
911
60,000
E
E .
E
C
D
D
E
Alt factors chosen were developed by NAPAP unless otherwise indicated.
^Activity rates are from the 1985 NAPAP Emission Inventory.
eEm!ssions totals do not include 44,218 tons from minor point source process emissions: area source category 99.
dSa0 Appendix A of the report for explanation of ratings. A is highest; E is lowest.
e£mtsslon factor is from midpoint of range reported in EPA report AP-42.
'Rating is lower than that reported in AP-42 because of the listing of a single factor rather than a range (as in AP-42).
SEmlssion factors as high as 1.6 Ib/kg animal for carnivores, 0.14 Ib/kg animal for herbivores, and 1.3 Ib/kg animal for birds were developed.
These emission factors were based on research results that were]not representative of the wilderness environment. Other NAPAP research
results based on direct NH3 measurements in the wilderness environment support the zero emission factor assumptions presented in this
table
''Not available,
'Emission factor was developed but the emissions for these categories were not included in the 1985 NAPAP Emissions Inventory due to
unreliable activity rates or emission factors, or because the total emissions were insignificant.
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7", £ Warn, S. Zelmanow'rtz, and M. Saeger are with Alliance Technologies Corp.,
Chapel Hill, NC 27514.
Robert C. Lagemann is the EPA Project Officer (see below).
The complete report, entitled "Development and Selection of Ammonia Emission
Factors for the 1985 NAPAP Emissions Inventory," (Order No. PB 90-235
094/AS; Cost $17.00, subject to change) will be available only from:
National Technical Information Service
5285 Port Royal Road
Springfield, VA 22161
Telephone: 703-487-4650
The EPA Project Officer can be contacted at:
Afr and Energy Engineering Research Laboratory
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Research Triangle Park, NC 27711
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Center for Environmental Research
Information
Cincinnati OH 45268
Official Business
Penalty for Private Use S300
EPA/600/S7-90/014
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