931362 Production systems and atmospheric pollution

Type
Lecture
Semester hours
2
Lecturer (assistant)
Organisation
Offered in
Sommersemester 2023
Languages of instruction
Englisch
Content

1.Air pollutants in agriculture – relevance, basics, formation, sources, impact
•Overview
•Nitrous Oxide, laughing gas (N2O)
•Methane (CH4)
•Ammonia (NH3)

2.Agricultural air pollutants, continued
•Odour
•Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC)
•Particulate Matter (PM) / Dust

3.Measurement methods for air pollutants from agriculture
•Methods of measuring selected air pollutants, in the laboratory and in the field

4.Emission inventories for agricultural air emissions, reduction options
•International reporting conventions (IPCC; CORINAIR; UNECE-CLRTAP)
•Measures for reducing agricultural air emissions
•Overview of renewable energies with a focus on biogas

5.Life cycle assessment (LCA), part I

• Introduction of the method "Ökobilanzen", "LCA", etc.
• LCA comparison with Austrian Air Emission Inventory
• Presentation of LCA software
• familiarization with the software GEMIS

6.Life cycle assessment (LCA), part II
•LCA Practice - system boundaries, data requirements and data search
• Data input in Software
• Analysis of LCA results

Block 6 will include short LCA presentations by students (details will be given in block 5). This presentation accounts for 20% of the total course grade. It is mandatory – without taking part in the presentation, you cannot get a positive total grade for the course.
Previous knowledge expected

knowledge of agricultural processes and entry-level chemistry and physics; currently no prerequisite courses.
Objective (expected results of study and acquired competences)

Students will be able to:

- list major air pollutants, with a focus on agricultural sources

- describe major sources, emission processes and environmental impacts of agricultural air pollutants

- name some mitigation options for agricultural emissions of air pollutants

- describe and distinguish between national and international air emission inventories with a focus on the agricultural sector.

- give an overview of renewable energy sources in Austria

- list the major sources of greenhouse gases in the biogas production process and analyze the influence of biogas plant designs on these emissions.

- describe the fundamentals of the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) method and relate air emission inventories to LCA practice

- research and discuss a concrete example LCA
You can find more details like the schedule or information about exams on the course-page in BOKUonline.