Evaluation of Greenhouse Gas Emission from Animal Manure Using the Closed Chamber Method for Gas Fluxes

Abstract

Animal manure is an important source of anthropogenic GHG (greenhouse gas): methane (CH4), nitrous oxide (N2O) and carbon dioxide (CO2). The livestock contributes with 37% of global CH4 emission. The sources of GHG (CO2 and CH4) are the liquid manure or slurry storage and the compact solid manure. Measurement systems of GHG emission are important for the selection of the appropriate technology. By using the closed chamber method for soil, landfills, volcanoes etc., the present study evaluates the estimation of total emissions of methane and carbon dioxide from an experimental farm in Cluj County, Romania. The investigated area covered with sheep solid manure was about 579 m2 and ~5 cm thick, for cattle was about 12 m2 and 5 m thick and for swine was about 1.5 m5 and 0.5 m thick. The total methane emission measured for sheep manure was 0.83 t CH4/year and for cattle manure was 0.185 t CH4/year. The total carbon dioxide emission measured for sheep manure was 61.3 t CO2/year and for cattle manure was 4.7 t CO2/year. The measurement for pigs manure was high and this could be due to the freshness of the manure. The estimated emissions showed that a considerable amount of CH4 and CO2 is produced also by an experimental farm and an appropriate management of manure is important for reducing greenhouse gas. In this respect, we believe that the future solution for a green economy is to use manure in biogas plants.