Emission Factors for Broiler Production Operations: A Stochastic Modeling Approach

Emissions data for PM10 and NH3 from commercial broiler houses in central Texas were analyzed using multiple linear regressions to develop emission factors for average bird weights and interior building temperatures. The emission factor for PM10 was 318 mg PM10 bird and the emission factor for NH3 was 19.8 g NH3 bird. These results were compared to published values found in the literature. Under typical management practices (i.e. 638,000 birds yr) the emission inventory was calculated to be 203.2 kg PM10 year 1 and 12,630 kg NH3 year. The methodology used in this paper considered the effect of the size of the birds and the variance in ventilation necessary to maintain the desired interior temperatures, where both factors were shown through multiple linear regressions to be significant. The overall emission factor was calculated from these regressions for an average bird and average building temperature.