“Agricomb” Measures Gas Emissions From … Cows

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NIST Argricomb at Kansas Feedlot

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Researchers utilized NIST’s agricomb to concurrently determine emissions of methane, ammonia, co2 and water vapor from the environment around a beef livestock feedlot in Kansas. Credit: Hanacek/NIST

After the optical frequency comb made its launching as a ruler for light, spinoffs followed, consisting of the astrocomb to determine starlight and a radar-like comb system to spot gas leakages. And now, scientists have actually revealed the “agricomb” to determine, ahem, cow burps. 

The agricomb might assist enhance farming procedures to lower production of heat-trapping greenhouse gases.

Researchers from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Kansas State University (KSU) utilized NIST’s agricomb to concurrently determine emissions of methane, ammonia, co2 and water vapor from the environment around a beef livestock feedlot in Kansas. The NIST device — a two-comb system — determines trace gases based upon the specific tones and quantities of infrared light soaked up by the environment when the comb light is returned and forth throughout outdoor courses.

Described in the journal Science Advances, the presentation was the very first usage of frequency combs in a farming setting. The portable system was established inside a trailer parked beside the feedlot. The laser light was specifically enhanced and filtered to target particular gases.

Researchers determined gases along 2 100-meter courses both upwind and downwind from pens including about 300 cows. The experiment concentrated on methane and ammonia since emissions from animals, generally livestock, are the biggest U.S. source of human-induced methane, a significant greenhouse gas, and ammonia is an essential climatic toxin. 

The measurements caught emissions from both the livestock’s gastrointestinal procedures and manure on the ground. The agricomb determined both methane and ammonia concentrations at parts-per-million levels with an accuracy of 25 parts per billion. The agricomb outcomes for methane were similar to those from a business sensing unit that tested the air at several inlets along the edges of the feedlot. The comb system was especially helpful for ammonia since this gas is sticky and hard to determine with systems that draw air into them. In addition, the agricomb can determine lots of gases concurrently, which is challenging for traditional systems. 

Finally, while the business sensing units determined accurate background levels quicker, the agricomb more exactly caught downwind plumes and might then much better define the gas sources, according to the paper. The increased accuracy will be crucial for organized future measurements of methane from sparsely dispersed cows in a pasture, which is a a lot more tough issue.  

The contract of the old and brand-new strategies influences self-confidence that the agricomb can be utilized to properly measure gases in farming contexts, the paper recommends. Advantages of the agricomb consist of level of sensitivity to a broad series of infrared light, high accuracy, calibration-free detection of several gases simultaneously, and versatility of the measurement setup. Pairing 2 combs with various spacings of “teeth” for determining specific colors of light makes the analysis more accurate. 

Estimating methane emissions from animals is challenging since of variations in management practices and livestock qualities in business farms. In addition, what the livestock consume impacts emissions however is unaccounted for in nationwide stocks, resulting in big unpredictabilities in greenhouse gas emission designs, according to the paper. The livestock at the Kansas feedlot consumed a mix of hay and corn silage.  

“For the future our plan is to work with KSU to do a pasture measurement, where the cattle eat native grasses,” NIST physicist Brian Washburn stated. “The different feed, plus microbial activity in grassland soils that consumes methane, may mean less atmospheric methane production in the pasture than in the feedlot. The cattle spend about 75% of their life in the pasture, so this measurement would be more representative of the net methane production. This would also be a harder measurement, since it would take place over a larger area, about 500 meters by 500 meters, with fewer animals, about 40 head.”

The scientists recommend the agricomb can support accuracy farming — using brand-new innovation to increase yields — by determining lots of gases concurrently over big spatial scales, making it possible to create cleaner and more efficient farms.

Reference: “Precise multispecies agricultural gas flux determined using broadband open-path dual-comb spectroscopy” by Daniel I. Herman, Chinthaka Weerasekara, Lindsay C. Hutcherson, Fabrizio R. Giorgetta, Kevin C. Cossel, Eleanor M. Waxman, Gabriel M. Colacion, Nathan R. Newbury, Stephen M. Welch, Brett D. DePaola, Ian Coddington, Eduardo A. Santos and Brian R. Washburn, 31 March 2021, Science Advances.
DOI: 10.1126/sciadv.abe9765

This work was moneyed in part by the National Science Foundation, the ARPA-E DISPLAY program, the William and Joan Porter Endowment, and the Habiger Heritage Fund.