​CONTINUOUS AMMONIA MONITORING FOR AGRICULTURE - CAMAG

PI - Brian Ellison (STFC RAL Space)
Food Side Co-Investigators - Lizzie Sagoo (ADAS), Fangjie Zhao (Rothamsted)

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​Ammonia (NH3) is an atmospheric pollutant of international environmental concern. Its release into the atmosphere is predominantly associated with agricultural use; particularly from livestock where, for example, it is lost from grazing, housing, hard-standings, manure storage and land spreading. Within the UK, about 80% of agricultural ammonia emissions are also from livestock, with the remaining 20% from mineral fertilizer application. International targets aimed at achieving emission reduction have therefore been established and methods of abatement relating to, for example, optimizing slurry application, incorporation and storage have been identified. Ensuring adequate abatement requires precise detection and continuous monitoring of NH3. To achieve this, the CAMAG project will both apply and explore an advanced gas sensing technique, originally developed for radio astronomy research, that detects the natural microwave spectral emission signature of NH3. The accuracy of the methodology will be determined and assessed, and its performance compared with alternative sensing methods. ​

​Read more about this project, and the importance of monitoring ammonia, in this blog. 
​Article on the RAL Space website about this project.

​2018 AWARDED SCOPING PROJECT - More scoping projects