The present study was performed to investigate the effects of NH3-N and nitrifying microorganisms on the increased BOD of downstream of the Yeongsan river in Gwangju. Water samples were collected periodically from the 13 sampling sites of rivers from April to October 2021 to monitor water qualities. In addition, the trends of nitrogenous biochemical oxygen demand (NBOD) and microbial clusters were analyzed by adding different NH3-N concentrations to the water samples. The monitoring results showed that NH3-N concentration in the Yeongsan river was 22 times increased after the inflow of discharged water from the Gwangju 1st public sewage treatment plant (G-1-PSTP). Increased NH3-N elevated NBOD levels through the nitrification process in the river, consequently, it would attribute to the increase of BOD in the Yeongsan river. Meanwhile, there was no proportional relation between NBOD and NH3-N concentrations. However, there was a significant difference in NBOD occurrence by sampling sites. Specifically, when 5 mg/L NH3-N was added, NBOD of the river sample showed 2-4 times higher values after the inflow of discharged water from G-1-PSTP. Therefore, it could be thought other factors such as microorganisms influence the elevated NBOD levels. Through next-generation sequencing analysis, nitrifying microorganisms such as Nitrosomonas, Nitroga, and Nitrospira (Genus) were detected in rivers samples, especially, the proportion of them was the highest in river samples after the inflow of discharged water from G-1-PSTP. These results indicated the effects of nitrifying microorganisms and NH3-N concentrations as important limiting factors on the increased NBOD levels in the rivers. Taken together, comprehensive strategies are needed not only to reduce the NH3-N concentration of discharged water but also to control discharged nitrifying microorganisms to effectively reduce the NBOD levels in the downstream of the Yeongsan river where discharged water from G-1-PSTP flows.

Ammonia (NH3) is a basic gas in the atmosphere and is known to play an important role in producing adverse health and environmental effects. Atmospheric NH3 causes stunted livestock growth, decreased visibility, and induces lung diseases when high concentrations occur. In addition, atmospheric NH3 reacts with acidic species (sulfuric acid, nitric acid, etc.) and produces secondary inorganic aerosol. In this study, the NH3 concentration and ventilation of Rooms 1 to 3 inside a sow facility were measured during the period from March 25 to May 31, 2021. It was difficult to conduct long-term field experiments at housing where pigs are raised. However, in order to improve the accuracy and reliability of the data, repeated experiments were conducted in three pig rooms in the same environment. The average concentration of NH3 in Rooms 1 to 3 was measured to be 7.6 ± 2.7 ppm, 8.2 ± 2.8 ppm, and 8.2 ± 2.7 ppm, respectively. The average internal temperatures were 21.0 oC, 21.2 °C, and 21.8 °C, and the internal humidity was 49.3%, 49.2%, and 49.2%, respectively. The ventilation per pig in Rooms 1 to 3 was measured as 60.4m3/hour∙pig, 62.5m3/hour∙pig, and 64.9m3/hour∙pig, respectively. At this time, NH3 emissions from Rooms 1 to 3 were found to be 6.9 ± 0.8 g/day∙pig, 7.9 ± 1.5 g/day∙pig, and 8.2 ± 1.3 g/day∙pig, respectively. As a result of the correlation analysis, the NH3 concentration was analyzed as producing a negative correlation between the ventilation (r=-0.73) and the internal temperature (r=-0.60) increase. Finally, as a result of calculating the national NH3 emission factor, the NH3 emission of one sow room in spring was 7.7 ± 1.4 g/day∙pig, and the NH3 emission of one year was 2.8 kg/ year∙pig.

The electrochemical type gas sensor has the advantage of being easy to use due its small size, and it is also relatively inexpensive. However, its output can easily vary depending on temperature and humidity conditions. Therefore, it is important to ascertain the exact output characteristics of a sensor according to the measuring environment in order to improve measurement accuracy for any set of given conditions. The purpose of this study is to obtain basic information about the output characteristics of a sensor that is used both indoor and outdoor according to the variation in temperature and humidity conditions in order to improve the accuracy of the sensor. To achieve this result, a calibration curve was made using ammonia standard gas and the calibration factor was calculated using the calibration curve and the measuring accuracy was confirmed with regard to the ammonia sensor. Based on the test results, the variation of the sensor output value was large in relation to temperature and humidity variation. It was found that the output value from the sensor at higher temperature and humidity conditions was also higher. However, the measuring accuracy of the sensor could be improved by more than 10% by applying the calibration factor and an average accuracy of more than 97% could be achieved. It is anticipated that the result of this study can be used as basic data to obtain more accurate results using electrochemical sensors for a given set of temperature and humidity conditions, and therefore, it can also be considered that the reliability and applicability of electrochemical sensors can be improved.

This in vitro study investigated the enhancement of rumen bacterial adhesion on a substrate to increase the digestibility of rice straw in Hanwoo cattle. The rice straw was pretreated with enzymes, probiotics, or ammonia, and the effects on the enhancement of bacterial adhesion and fiber degradation were analyzed using in vitro rumen fermentation. Enzyme treatment included spraying of cellulase and xylanase at 40 and 120 U per g of rice straw, respectively; Saccharomyces cerevisiae culture of 1.0×107 CFU was sprayed as a probiotic treatment per gram of rice straw; ammonia was sprayed at 0.3% per gram of rice straw. Following enzyme treatment, Fibrobacter succinogenes formed a higher adhesion colony than the control group (7.26±0.03 and 8.43±0.20) after 6h and 12h of in vitro culture (p<0.05), respectively. Attachment of Ruminococcus flavefaciens also increased following enzyme treatment (p<0.05) after 6 and 12 h compared to that of the control (5.18±0.06 and 6.60±0.15); and R. albus attachment showed a significant increase compared to that of the control (5.94±0.15) after 6 h of incubation (p<0.05). Probiotic treatment increased attachment of F. succinogenes in comparison with untreated rice straw after 6 h and 12 h of fermentation (p<0.05); R. flavefaciens attachment showed an increase only after 6 h of culture (p<0.05); R. albus was not affected. Attachment of F. succinogenes, R. flavefaciens, and R. albus increased with ammonia treatment after 6 h and 12 h (p<0.05). Dry matter digestibility was higher after the enzyme treatment (3.45±0.21 and 7.04±0.09) than in the control group(1.85±0.08 and 3.94±0.04) after 6 and 12 h of in vitro culture (p<0.05), respectively. It was also higher than that of untreated rice straw after probiotic and ammonia treatments (p<0.05). There was an increase in the enhancement levels of bacterial adhesion depending on the type of fibrolytic bacteria following enzyme, probiotic, and ammonia treatment. These treatments improved digestibility. This enhancement is considered to be greater following enzyme and ammonia treatments than with probiotics.

This study was conducted to assess the effect of acidification of pig slurry on nitrogen (N) mineralization and its environmental impacts during pig slurry fermentation. Different inorganic and organic acids were used to acidify pig slurry. Four treatments including non-acidified pig slurry (control), pig slurry acidified with sulfuric acid, lactic acid, and citric acid were allocated with three replications. The total N content in the acidified pig slurry was higher than non-acidified pig slurry after fermentation. Acidification tended to increase total N content in pig slurry. Ammonium N (NH4 +-N) released from pig slurry was obviously increased at 7 days after incubation, representing 61.4%, 36.8%, and 37.4% increase in the acidified pig slurry with sulfuric acid, lactic acid, and citric acid, respectively. Nitrate N (NO3 --N) in the acidified pig slurry with sulfuric acid was the highest throughout the experiment period, but non-significant effect of organic acid. A large portion of ammonia (NH3) emission occurred within 10 days, corresponding to more than 55% of total NH3 emission. Total cumulative NH3 emission during the experimental period was lower 91% (2.9 mg N kg-1), 78% (7.3 mg N kg-1), and 81% (6.2 mg N kg-1) in the acidified pig slurry with sulfuric acid, lactic acid, and citric acid, respectively, than non-acidified pig slurry (32.7 mg N kg-1). These results suggest that acidification of pig slurry (particularly with sulfuric acid) can be faced as a good strategy to reduce NH3 emission without depressing the mineralization process.

국내 고농도의 초미세먼지 발생 빈도 증가와 함께 그 전구물질인 NH3와 관련한 연구가 활발히 진행 중이다. NH3 배출에 있어 농업의 기여율이 높은 것은 자명한 사실이다. 그러나 비료 사용이 농경지 대기 중 NH3 농도에 장기간 미치는 영향에 관련한 연구는 미비한 실정이다. 따라서 본 연구에서는 수동식 NH3 확산형 포집기를 활용해 11개월 간 농경지 대기 중 NH3 농도를 관측하였다. 그 결과 비료 살포 직후 한 달 동안 NH3 배출의 영향이 가장 큰 것으로 나타났다. 그 이후 여름철 기온 상승으로 NH3 휘발이 촉진되어 대기 중 농도가 증가할 것으로 예상하였으나, 54일간의 지속적인 강우로 인하여 대기 중 높은 암모니아 농도는 관측되지 않았다. 그 후 NH3 농도는 가을과 겨울을 거치면서 점차 감소하였다. 비료의 영향력이 감쇠한 시점 이후에는 기온이 감소할수록, 그리고 강수량이 증가할수록 NH3 농도는 감소하는 것을 상관분석을 통해 확인할 수 있었다. 종합해 보면, 국내 NH3 배출량에서 비료의 기여율을 연구하는 데 있어 비료 살포 직후 최소 한 달 동안은 집중적으로 살펴보아야 할 것이며, 현장 연구 시 강수량과 무강우 일수 등의 기상 정보도 함께 고려해야 할 것이다.

This study was conducted to find an efficient and economical mixing ratio of deodorant and a isolated microorganism to reduce ammonia in livestock manure compost. In this study, a simple experimental device that can compare the degree of odor reduction by connecting the vial containing the odor generating source and the gas detection tube and leaving it to stand was used. This test method cannot accurately measure ammonia concentration according to the characteristics of the detector tube, but it is an easy method to compare various experimental conditions. The microorganism isolated from pig manure, “Enterococcus casseliflavus” was found to have an effect on ammonia reduction. Surfactant (sodium dodecyl sulfate), mineral A, mineral B, sulfur, persimmon leaves, and glycerin used as a deodorant were mixed with E. casseliflavus NO-2-L to find the optimum mixing ratio. When 20% of deodorants and E. casseliflavus NO-2-L were added to the source of odor alone, the ammonia reduction efficiency of NO-2-L was the highest (66.7%) compared with other deodorants. When a mixture of microorganisms and deodorants were used, the ammonia reduction efficiency was the best when the mixing ratio of the deodorant was 20%. When mineral B and sulfur were added, the ammonia concentration reduction efficiency was the highest at 83.3%.

This ammonia prediction study was performed using the time-series artificial neural network model, Long-short term memory (LSTM), after long-term monitoring of ammonia and environmental factors (ventilation rate (V), temperature (T), humidity (RH)) from a slurry finishing pig farm on mechanical ventilation system. The difference with the actual ammonia concentration was compared through prediction of the last three days of the entire breeding period. As a result of the analysis, the model which had a low correlation (ammonia concentration and humidity) was confirmed to have less error values than the models that did not. In addition, the combination of two or more input values [V, RH] and [T, V, RH] showed the lowest error value. In this study, the sustainability period of the model trained by multivariate input values was analyzed for about two days. In addition, [T, V, RH] showed the highest predictive performance with regard to the actual time of the occurrence of peak concentration compared to other models . These results can be useful in providing highly reliable information to livestock farmers regarding the management of concentrations through artificial neural network-based prediction models.

Due to the serious air pollution problem, interest in eco-friendly vehicles is increasing. Solving the problem of pollution will necessitate the securing of high energy storage technology for batteries, the driving force of eco-friendly vehicles. The reason for the continuing interest in the transition metal oxide LiMO2 as a cathode material with a layered structure is that lithium ions reveal high mobility in two-dimensional space. Therefore, it is important to investigate the effective intercalation and deintercalation pathways of Li+, which affect battery capacity, to understand the internal structure of the cathode particle and its effect on the electrochemical performance. In this study, for the cathode material, high nickel Ni0.8Co0.1Mn0.1(OH)2 precursor is synthesized by controlling the ammonia concentration. Thereafter, the shape of the primary particles of the precursor is investigated through SEM analysis; X-ray diffraction analysis is also performed. The electrochemical properties of LiNi0.8Co0.1Mn0.1O2 are evaluated after heat treatment.

Several analytical measurement techniques have been developed over the years for ammonia (NH3). However, the field monitoring of NH3 still remains a significant challenge owing to the wide range of possible environmental conditions and NH3 concentration. In this regard, it is imperative to ensure the quality control of techniques to measure the NH3 emission levels reliably. A present study was conducted to compare the five analytical methods for the measurement of atmospheric NH3 via validation tests under laboratory and field conditions. The analytical instruments applied in the present study were based on wet chemistry, gas detection tube, electrochemical sensor, photoacoustic spectroscopy, and cavity ring-down spectroscopy. The reproducibility and linearity of all the analyzed methods were observed to be high with the relative standard deviation and coefficient of determination (R2) being 10% and > 0.9, respectively. In the case of wet chemistry and high NH3 concentration, the measured NH3 results were found to be close to the actual standard gas levels. Response times of electrochemical sensor showed faster from the instruments utilized more than one year and the high NH3 concentrations. In the field tests, NH3 concentration showed higher in the manure storage tank compared with the pig-pen. In both cases, the NH3 concentration levels measured by gas detection tube were found to be quite different from that of wet chemistry. It was proposed that such differences in NH3 concentration could arise due to the inherent instrumental characteristics and the variations in air velocity during sampling/measurement. The periodic instrumental maintenance, verification, replicate analyses, and suitable consideration of environmental factors should be considered for a more reliable measurement of NH3 concentration under real field conditions.

This study was conducted to research on the efficacy of chemical treatment as an effective method for reducing mycotoxin in rice straw silage. As a chemical treatment method, ammonia and sodium hydroxid were treated at 4% level of rice straws contaminated with mycotoxin, and the effects of silage storage on fungal toxin reduction, fermentation quality, and fiber digestion were evaluated. Aflatoxin B1, B2, G1, G2 and fumonisin B1, B2 as well as deoxynivalenol were not detected in all experimental groups, and ochratoxin A and zearalenone were detected. Ochratoxin A was detected lower in the chemical treatment than control (41.23 g / kg) (p<0.05). Zearalenone showed lower results in sodium hydroxide treatment (297.44 μg / kg) than control (600.33 μg / kg) and ammonia treatment (376.00 μg / kg) (p<0.05). The pH of rice straw silage was the lowest in ammonia treatment and the highest in sodium hydroxide treatment (p<0.05). The lactic acid contents of control and ammonia treatments were similar, but sodium hydroxide treatment was the lowest (p<0.05). Propionic acid was higher in the control than in the chemical treatments (p<0.05), and showed similar contents in the ammonia and sodium hydroxide treatment. Both the rumen microbial degradation rate of NDF and ADF showed the highest in sodium hydroxide treatment, followed by ammonia treatment, and the control showed the lowest level (p<0.05). Therefore, the results of this study are demonstrated to have a good effect on the treatment of ammonia and sodium hydroxide to reduce the mycotoxins and increase the rumen microbial degradation rate in the rice straw silage. Sodium hydroxide treatment was more effective in reducing mycotoxins and improving fiber degradation rate than ammonia treatment, but it is thought to have an inefficient effect on silage fermentation in rice straw silage.