Ammonia Emission Estimation of Biogas Production Facilities in South Korea: Consideration of the Emission Factor Development

Abstract

This study identified the need to develop ammonia (NH3) emission factors for biogas production facilities in Korea and examined the base unit that should be considered when developing emission factors. The analysis showed that the ammonia concentration of three biogas production facilities ranged from approximately 0.04 to 8 ppm. The NH3 emission factors were found to be 0.005 kg NH3 ton-waste and 0.150 kg NH3/10−3 Nm3-biogas. The estimated emission factors were also used to calculate the total emissions, which were found to be small. The uncertainty of the emission factors ranged from approximately −5% to +8% for the waste-based emission factors and approximately −5% to +7% for the biogas-based emission factors. Although the uncertainty of the emission factor differences is not large, it is low compared to the international emission factor uncertainty (maximum 191%, minimum −40.7%). Considering the development of waste-based and biogas-based emission factors, there is not much difference in terms of uncertainty of emission factors, so it is judged that it will be easier to develop emission factors based on biogas production in terms of securing and managing overall data.