Twelfth International Conference on Climate Change: Impacts & Responses

Abstract

Ammonia as a greenhouse gas contributes to global climate change, and degradation of natural terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, as it returns with precipitation to the earth’s surface. Seventy-five percent of land-based emissions are attributed to agriculture. In 2010, the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM) recognized large-scale farms as point sources of agricultural pollution (Baltic Agricultural Hot Spots). This approach made it impossible to exactly define the proper problem in terms of environmental protection and reduction of greenhouse gas emissions from agricultural sources. The purpose of this research was to assess the possibility of using a mixture of natural sorbents in pig nutrition in reducing the emission of ammonia and other greenhouse gases from agricultural sources. For this purpose, two groups of animals were created, 240 pieces each. The control group consisted of traditionally fed animals, while in the experimental group the animals were additionally treated with a mixture of natural sorbents in the amount of 1.5% of the daily dose of feed. At the same time, monitoring was carried out of the amount of ammonia released, and other gases using an installed measuring network. The experiment confirmed the strong binding capacity and ammonia, and reduction of gaseous pollutant emissions from the farm to the environment. The reduction of released gas was at the level of 15-20%. In the context of the presented research, natural sorbents should be used in technological processes that require reducing the emission of volatile pollutants into the atmospheric air.