TDA RESEARCH, INC. — Department of Agriculture SBIR Phase I: 8.4

Description

Poultry farms are the largest source of ammonia emissions followed by non-dairy and dairycattle farms and poultry farms emit 1.9 million metric tons of ammonia per year. Ammonia isnot directly produced or excreted by the birds but is a common by-product of poultry wastes.Ammonia emission is one of the major air quality concerns at the global national and regionallevels. It is a precursor of acid rain and significantly compromises poultry welfare. It is also notjust malodorous but it also has significant hazardous effect on the health of caretakers. HighNH3 levels are a concern both inside and outside the poultry house. Therefore there is a greatneed to reduce NH emissions from poultry farms to reduce the harm to animal and human health3 and the environment.TDA Research Inc. (TDA) proposes to develop a low cost technology to remove ammoniaemissions from poultry house ventilation systems down to the ppb levels that is simple toimplement with existing ventilation systems. TDA's technology will employ a low energypenalty multifunctional system that will convert ammonia to nitrogen and water without the needof additional technologies to neutralize adsorbed ammonia.The process is continuous andsimple providing uninterrupted ammonia removal while reducing operating costs. In Phase I wewill prove the technical feasibility of the concept and carry out an economic analysis todemonstrate its commercial viability.