Micrometeorological Mass Balance Measurements of Greenhouse Gas Emissions from Composting Green-waste
Abstract
Managed decomposition of organic materials is increasingly being used as an alternative waste management option and the resulting compost can be used as a fertilizer and soil amendment in home gardens and agriculture. An additional benefit is the avoidance of methane emissions associated with anaerobic decomposition in landfills. Greenhouse gases are still emitted during the composting process, but few studies have measured emissions from a full-scale windrow of composting green-waste. This study uses a micrometeorological mass balance technique (upwind and downwind vertical profile measurements of trace gas concentrations and wind velocity) to calculate emissions of carbon dioxide, methane, and nitrous oxide from a pile of composting green-waste during the dry season in Northern California. The expected source pattern was observed in measured upwind-downwind concentration differences of all three gases averaged over the study period despite substantial noise seen in the half-hourly emission calculations. Sources of uncertainty are investigated and temporal patterns analyzed. An in-situ zero-source test was conducted to examine the mass balance technique when the source of emissions was removed. Results from the micrometeorological mass balance measurements are compared with measurements taken using the more common open chamber technique.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AGUFM.A53E0220K
- Keywords:
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- 0490 BIOGEOSCIENCES Trace gases;
- 3394 ATMOSPHERIC PROCESSES Instruments and techniques;
- 0426 BIOGEOSCIENCES Biosphere/atmosphere interactions