Academics

Description

In order to reduce odour affecting households near swine farms, research must be done to quantify and analyze odour. Dr. Zhang has conducted research measuring instantaneous downwind odour plumes on two 3000-sow swine farrowing farms, one with open earthen manure storage, and one with negative air pressure covered earthen storage.  Odour plumes were quantified by human odour sniffers using an 8-point n-butanol scale.

Solar energy greenhouses store solar energy in the north wall and in the soil floor during daytime and release the stored energy back into the greenhouse at night. An earth heat storage system, consisting of fans and buried perforated pipes, was constructed and tested in a solar energy green house for enhancing energy storage. Thermocouples were used to record soil and air temperatures at various locations. Energy balance analyses were conducted to evaluate effectiveness of the earth heat storage system. Solar radiation had more influence on the greenhouse temperature than did the outdoor temperature.

Lab equipment available:

• olfactometer
• electronic nose
• Jerome meter
• air sampling devices