Air quality has many components, one of which is PM2.5 and ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulfate are reported to be two of the major components. Swine confinement facilities generate significant quantities of ammonia which can combine with nitric acid and sulfur dioxide to form ammonium nitrate and ammonium sulfate. Nitric acid and sulfur dioxide appear to be the limiting factors. Results of this study indicate that swine production is not a significant source for nitric acid and sulfur dioxide to produce PM2.5.
Another component of air quality is particulate matter (PM2.5, PM10, and TSP). Data from this study indicates that swine production results in elevated concentrations of the larger particulates found in the PM10 and TSP fractions. The concentrations of small particulates that compose the PM2.5 fraction are nearly identical on the swine confinement site as on the background site.