Fiscal Year:
2007
Title:
Low Cost, High Performance Spectroscopic Ammonia Sensor for Livestock Emissions Monitoring
Agency:
USDA
Contract:
2007-33610-17980
Award Amount:
$80,000.00
Abstract:
"The National Research Council has concluded that ammonia is a major concern for
air quality at global, national and regional scales. In the US, livestock operations are
believed to contribute over 80% of the total emissions of ammonia. Specific interest in
ammonia emissions from livestock operations stems from concerns with the negative
impacts of high ammonia levels on air quality and environment. Ammonia is also a
major source of fine particulate matter that poses direct threats to human health. The
availability of low-cost, highly sensitive ammonia sensors to fill gaps in existing
ammonia inventory data is critical to the understanding of the widespread impacts of
high ammonia emissions.
This proposed USDA SBIR Phase I project is concerned with investigating the
applicability of our novel low-cost gas sensor technology based on quartz enhanced
photoacoustic spectroscopy using laser diodes to ammonia emissions monitoring in
agriculture. The proposed sensor should be capable of operating 24-hours a day at
outdoor monitoring stations, achieving precisions and accuracies of ~100-ppb. Sensor
calibration will be performed not more than once every month to demonstrate feasibility
of the proposed sensor architecture. The unit price of proposed sensor is not expected
to exceed $15,000. If successful in Phase I, the sensor will be deployed at agricultural
monitoring stations for extensive field testing in collaboration with researchers at the
Agricultural Research and Extension Center in Amarillo, TX. Potential users of low cost
ammonia sensors include researchers, government laboratories, livestock producers,
consultants, and entrepreneurs who are pursuing new patentable methods in nutrition
and manure management for livestock."
Small Business Information at Submission:
Ekips Technologies, Inc.
710 Asp Ave., Suite 500 Norman, OK 73116
EIN/Tax ID:
731529893
DUNS:
N/A
Number of Employees:
N/A
Woman-Owned:
No
Minority-Owned:
No
HUBZone-Owned:
No