Date of Award:

12-2008

Document Type:

Thesis

Degree Name:

Master of Science (MS)

Department:

Civil and Environmental Engineering

Department name when degree awarded

Environmental Engineering

Committee Chair(s)

Randal Martin

Committee

Randal Martin

Committee

Laurie McNeill

Committee

Larry Hipps

Abstract

With the continued population growth and the blurring of the urban and rural interface, air quality impacts associated with agricultural particle-producing processes are becoming increasingly important. There is a lack of emission rate data from these source types and no prescribed measurement technique available to the agricultural and regulatory communities. One technique that has shown promise is combining field measurements with inverse modeling. This approach was used herein to examine particulate emissions from an almond harvesting operation, a cotton ginning facility, and comparative emissions from conservation versus conventional tillage practices. EPAapproved models ISCST3 and AERMOD were used with AirMetrics samplers. With error representing the standard deviation for all values, for ISCST3, the almond harvesting operation found PM10 emissions for shaking were 3.4 kilograms per hectare; PM2.5, PM10, and TSP emissions for sweeping were 0.81 ± 0.76, 4.8 ± 3.7, and 7.5 ± 5.1 kg ha-1, respectively; PM2.5, PM10, and TSP emissions for pickup were 1.7 ± 1.5, 6.1 ± iii 1.9, and 10.3 ± 3.8 kg ha-1, respectively. Using AERMOD, the almond harvesting operation found PM10 emissions for shaking were 4.4 kg ha-1; PM2.5, PM10, and TSP emissions for sweeping were 1.3 ± 1.5, 8.3 ± 9.4, and 27.0 ± 41.2 kg ha-1, respectively; PM2.5, PM10, and TSP emissions for pickup were 2.7 ± 1.3, 15.7 ± 14.1, and 42.3 ± 20.7 kg ha-1, respectively. PM2.5, PM10, and TSP emissions from the cotton gin were determined to be 1.7 ± 1.4, 14.3 ± 17.0, and 27.9 ± 41.1 g s-1 using ISCST3 and 0.9 ± 0.9, 10.5 ± 18.8, and 43.0 ± 79.9 g s-1 using AERMOD, respectively. ISCST3 emission rates for the combined tillage operations for PM2.5, PM10, and TSP were 0.15 ± 0.24, 0.44 ± 0.17, and 1.4 kg acre-1, while AERMOD rates were 0.17 ± 0.27, 0.66 ± 0.25, and 2.1 kg acre-1, respectively. ISCST3 emissions for the conventional tillage operations for PM2.5, PM10, and TSP were 0.47 ± 2.1, 1.1 ± 0.23, and 3.4 kg acre-1, and the AERMOD rates were 0.18 ± 0.26, 1.2 ± 0.24, and 5.1 kg acre-1, respectively.

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