Indoor concentrations and emissions factors of particulate matter, ammonia and greenhouse gases for pig fattening facilities

•Concentrations and emissions of PM1, PM2.5, PM10, NH3, N2O, CH4 and CO2 measured.•Results compared with similar research in the literature.•Correlations between concentrations, emission factors and operational conditions.

The objective of the study was to investigate indoor concentrations (IC) of particulate matter (PM1, PM2.5 and PM10), NH3, N2O, CH4 and CO2 in different conventional pig fattening facilities and one low-emission fattening facility. Concentration data were used to calculate respective emission factors (EF), which were assessed and evaluated with regard to similar studies. In total, six pig fattening stables were sampled during two fattening periods. The average indoor PM concentrations were 15.0, 38.9 and 719 μg m−3 for PM1, PM2.5 and PM10 respectively for conventional pig fattening stables, while for the low emission stable, these were 14.2, 41.2 and 595 μg m−3 respectively. The average indoor gas concentrations for the conventional stables were 18.7, 817, 128 and 2034 ppm for NH3, N2O, CH4, and CO2 respectively and for the low emission stable 16.3, 0.731, 164 and 2156 ppm. The emission factors of the conventional fattening facilities were 3.4, 7.8 and 99.9 g a−1 yr−1 for PM1, PM2.5 and PM10 respectively, while the EF was 2.2 kg a−1 yr−1 for NH3, 154 g a−1 yr−1 for N2O, 10.4 kg a−1 yr−1 for CH4, and 420 kg a−1 yr−1 for CO2. For the low emission stable the EF were 2.3, 7.3 and 85.3 g a−1 yr−1 for PM1, PM2.5 and PM10 respectively, while the EF was 1.6 kg a−1 yr−1 for NH3, 136 g a−1 yr−1 for N2O, 19.5 kg a−1 yr−1 for CH4, and 545 kg a−1 yr−1 for CO2. Furthermore, the particle size distribution and the correlations between EF, IC and different operational conditions were investigated.