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ARS Home » Plains Area » Bushland, Texas » Conservation and Production Research Laboratory » Livestock Nutrient Management Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #118260
Title: DETERMINATION AND FIELD SAMPLING OF VOLATILE FATTY ACIDS IN AIR WITH SOLID PHASE MICROEXTRACTION

Author
item KOZIEL, JACEK - TEXAS AGRIC. EXP. STATION
item SPINHIRNE, JARRETT - WEST TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
item WILLIAMS, DARREN - WEST TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
item PARKER, DAVID - WEST TEXAS A&M UNIVERSITY
item Cole, Noel

Submitted to: Air and Waste Management Annual Conference Proceedings
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/1/2001
Publication Date: 7/1/2001
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: Confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs) including beef cattle feedyards can affect air quality through emissions of odors and odorous gases. Volatile organic fatty acids (VOFA) constitute one of the major components odors from CAFOs. To date, little is known about the formation, concentrations, and emission rates of VOFAs from feedlot surfaces. To address that lack of fundamental knowledge, a new sampling and analysis method for volatile fatty acids in ambient air was developed and tested at several beef cattle feedyards. This method was based on the use of solid phase microextraction (SPME) methodology and gas chromatography/mass spectrometry (GC/MS). SPME was selected to provide more sensitive, fast, and cost-effective measurements of target VOFAs including acetic, propionic, butyric, isobutyric, 2-ethylbutyric, and valeric acids. This paper presents SPME method development with standard gases, comparison with hthe conventional National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) 1603 method, and field sampling of odor sources including feedlot surfaces at CAFOs. The authors will discuss advantages and challenges involved with SPME method development and applications to field air sampling. This research should be of interest to research and industry professionals working on development of novel methods for air sampling and analysis of odors and odorous gases.