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Modelling Ammonia Losses After Field Application of Biogas Slurry in Energy Crop Rotations

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Abstract

Over the past few years the number of biogas slurries, which are generally used as nitrogen fertilisers, have seen a steady increase in Germany. A mechanistic ammonia volatilisation model was developed to predict the ammonia losses of these slurries when applied to bare soil, maize, wheat and rye grass canopies. Data for model development were collected from several field measurements carried out at two locations in Northern Germany between the years of 2007 and 2008. Additionally, the behaviour of the slurries on and in the soil was investigated through the use of infiltration pot experiments. The model includes three main compartments: slurry, atmosphere and soil. The soil compartment model is relatively simple, as the slurry infiltration, nitrification and ploughing dislocation into the soil determined in the experiments showed quantitatively no significant differences between the tested slurries (mono-fermented, co-fermented and pig slurry) and soils (sand soil and loamy sand). Hence, instead of a complex soil model, stable reduction factors, as derived from the experiments, were implemented in the model. Simulated ammonia emissions were statistically compared (root mean square error (RMSE), modelling efficiency (ME), linear regression) to the observed emissions. All evaluations showed an acceptable model performance (RMSE = 1.80 kg N ha−1), although there were a few number of anomalies which could not be modelled in an adequate way. A model sensitivity analysis showed that temperature and slurry pH value are the main drivers of NH3 volatilization in the model. Following a change of +1°C or of +0.1 pH unit ammonia volatilization will increase by about 1% and 1.6% of the applied total ammoniacal nitrogen, respectively. We were able to show that a simple model approach could explain most factors of ammonia volatilization in biogas crop rotations.

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Abbreviations

Humidity:

Air humidity (percent)

Wind:

Wind speed in a height of 2 m (metre per second)

T soil :

Soil temperature (Kelvin)

T air :

Air temperature (Kelvin)

T air_K :

Air temperature (Kelvin)

Radiation:

Global radiation (watts per square metre)

Precipitation:

Precipitation (millimetre)

Rn:

Net solar radiation (watts per square metre)

e a :

Actual vapour pressure (millibar)

e s :

Saturation vapour pressure (millibar)

delta:

Slope of vapour pressure deficiency curve (millibar per Kelvin)

ρ :

Air density (kilogramme per cubic metre)

Cp:

Heat capacity of the air (joules per kilogramme per Kelvin)

ζ :

Psychrometric constant (millibar per Kelvin)

λ :

Latent heat of evaporation (joules per kilogramme)

r c pen :

Vegetation resistance for H2O (seconds per metre)

ETp:

Actual evapotranspiration (millimetre per second)

kumETp:

Cumulative evapotranspiration (millimetre)

LAI:

Leaf area index (square metre per square metre)

exkg:

Extinction coefficient (−)

h :

Vegetation height (metre)

k a :

Von Karman’s constant (−)

l :

Height of internal boundary layer (metre)

Ri:

Richardson number (−)

z :

Height above ground (metre)

z 0 :

Roughness length (metre)

u * :

Friction wind velocity (metre per second)

r a :

Resistance in turbulent layer for NH3 (seconds per metre)

r b :

Resistance in the laminar boundary layer for NH3 (seconds per metre)

r c :

Resistance within the slurry surface layer for NH3 (seconds per metre)

d :

Zero plane displacement height (metre)

k loss :

Transfer coefficient for NH3 volatilisation (metre per second)

β 0, β 1, β 2 :

constants for the calculation of r c (for NH3) (−)

β:

Constant for the calculation of r c (for NH3) (−)

θ surface :

Relative volumetric water content of slurry layer (−)

ξ :

Atmospheric stability correction (−)

plough:

Trigger (0 = no ploughing; 1 = ploughing) (−)

incorptime:

Time step of ploughing event (−)

pHinc :

pH reduction factor for ploughing event (−)

waterinc :

Water reduction factor for ploughing event (−)

NH4inc :

NH4 reduction factor for ploughing event (−)

concNH3 :

NH3 concentration in slurry surface layer (grammes per square metre)

TANakt :

Total ammoniacal nitrogen in slurry surface layer (grammes per square metre)

AmmN:

Ammonium content of slurry (grammes per square metre)

losscum :

Cumulative NH3 losses (kilogrammes per hectare)

nitrate:

Nitrate in surface layer (kilogrammes per hectare)

pHslurry :

pH of the slurry liquid (−)

NH4applied :

Ammonium applied (grammes per square metre)

amount:

Biogas slurry liquid (litres per square metre)

DM:

Dry matter of slurry (−)

infiltration:

Infiltration loss constant (−)

θ soil :

Relative volumetric water content of soil surface layer (−)

α :

Constant for the calculation of nitrate (−)

ε :

Constant for the calculation of nitrate (−)

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Acknowledgement

We are thankful to the Schleswig-Holstein Ministry of Economy and Science for funding this work in the scope of the Biogas-Expert programme. We thank all co-workers, student aides, farm managers, biogas plant operators for their help and Chris Gow as well as the reviewers for the revision of the manuscript.

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  1. Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel, Kiel, Germany

    Dirk Gericke, Lüder Bornemann, Henning Kage & Andreas Pacholski

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  1. Dirk Gericke
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Correspondence to Dirk Gericke.

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Gericke, D., Bornemann, L., Kage, H. et al. Modelling Ammonia Losses After Field Application of Biogas Slurry in Energy Crop Rotations. Water Air Soil Pollut 223, 29–47 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11270-011-0835-4

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