Recipient Organization
PHYSICAL OPTICS CORPORATION
1845 WEST 205TH STREET
TORRANCE,CA 90501
Performing Department
(N/A)
Non Technical Summary
Agriculture contributes significantly to emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants, including the primary and secondary emissions of PM. In the United States, agricultural emissions play an important role in several atmospherically mediated processes of environmental and public health concerns. These atmospheric processes affect local and regional environmental quality, including odor, PM exposure, eutrophication, acidification, exposure to toxics, climate, and pathogens. There is an urgent need to develop strategies to manage and reduce the effects a changing climate will have on our environment due to the greenhouse gases, which continue to increase in the atmosphere. Improved scientific measurements and control methods of agricultural air pollution are important steps to manage and minimize the effects of these emissions. Potential contributions the farming community and regulating agencies can make to tackle climate change are continued monitoring of agricultural emission sources and implementing air pollution reduction measures. Currently, there are no nationwide monitoring networks in the U.S. to quantify agricultural emissions of greenhouse gases and PM. The cost of air pollution monitoring equipment and the lack of commercial devices that can monitor multiple gases and PM in a single module are two of the main factors for this inefficient agriculture emission monitoring. Therefore, the development of affordable integrated agriculture air pollution monitoring devices is critical to achieve the strategic goal of a cleaner environment and better climate control.In this project, a low-cost air pollution system will be developed and tested in a Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation (CAFO). This air pollution monitoring system uses multiple gas sensor elements tailored for the detection of methane, ammonia, and nitrous oxide, and a miniature particulate separator with integrated highly sensitive mass sensors to measure respirable particulate matter pollutants. This pollution monitoring system operates for many days using battery power. The operation time can be extended to months if augmented with small solar power source. The unit will wirelessly send the measured pollution level of greenhouse gases and particulates to a computer located >1 km away. Multiple monitoring devices can be installed around agricultural lands and CAFOs to monitor gas pollutants at configurable time intervals and read the measured data wirelessly from a remote location. The proposed project will have many important intersections with future U.S. EPA, government, academic, and commercial research and development in environmental studies. We anticipate that this development will culminate in a full-scale prototype demonstration of the air pollution monitoring platform. Successful completion of this project will lead to the development of a new generation of field particulate load sensor devices. As a standalone system, the proposed device will have multiple functionalities, such as weather monitoring and airborne hazardous material detection, besides air quality monitoring and reporting for environmental compliance requirements. Development of this device will not only introduce a new cost-effective and efficient air pollution monitoring system, but will lay a solid foundation for the application of atmospheric particle sensing applications, especially chemical and biological warfare agent monitoring.
Animal Health Component
30%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
20%
Applied
30%
Developmental
50%
Goals / Objectives
The major goal of this Phase I project is to demonstrate the feasibility of a field-compatible, low cost, multi-gas and particle analyzer device (A2PM) for the simultaneous detection and quantification of pollutant gases and particulates. The following specific objectives have been established to reach this goal.Objective 1. Design and analysis of the proposed A2PM.Objective 2. Development of the A2PM components for feasibility demonstration.Objective 3. Assembly and proof-of-concept demonstration of the A2PObjective 4. Exploring and defining the commercialization of the A2PM technology.
Project Methods
Scientific advances in the development of monitoring methods, tools, and models to prevent and reduce air pollution have led to improved air quality; however, air pollution monitoring methods still lack the accuracy to quantify pollutants emitted from various sources. High cost, high power consumption, and detection of a limited number of gas species are some of the key factors prohibiting the current commercial devices from being used by regulators and farm owners in the agriculture industry. Furthermore, no small device exists for measuring both PM and pollutant gases in a single integrated module. To address this shortfall, a new a new Agricultural Air Pollution Monitor (A2PM) incorporating three major components: (1) an array of five temperature-stabilized custom-developed quartz crystal microbalance (QCM)-based miniature gas sensor elements and climatic sensors (temperature and humidity), (2) a dual-stage micro virtual impactor-based particulate separator integrated with QCM mass sensors, and (3)control, data processing, and communication electronics, all assembled within a 5 in. × 4 in. × 2 in. environmentally rugged, high-impact resistant, water-resistant mechanical package. The A2PM will simultaneously detect and quantify three main agricultural gas species, CH4, N2O and NH3, and the mass load and concentration of breathable particulates in two size classes PM10 and PM2.5. The gas sensor elements are highly stable multiwall carbon nanotube-metal oxide coated 0.5in. QCM devices that operate at a wide range of ambient temperatures. Measurement of average number, density, and mass load of PM pollutants will be achieved by using an innovatively designed hydrodynamically operated slot type particulate separator. The success of the project will be evaluated through field (CAFO) testing of the prototype developed during this project and by comparing the monitored pollution levels to those measured by a state-of-the-art air pollution monitor. Upon agreement of the results within 5%, the A2PM technology will be considered feasible and the project will be considered successful.