Particulate Matter (PM10) Concentrations and Emissions at a Commercial Laying Hen House with High-Quality and Long-Term Measurement

Particulate matter (PM) is a significant air pollutant in modern egg production. However, high-quality PM data from commercial egg farms are still very limited. A 6-month study, covering both cold and hot seasons, measured PM10 concentrations and emissions in a 140,000-hen commercial laying hen house in the Midwest USA. An advanced measurement system was implemented for continuous and real-time monitoring, collecting data from 67 online instruments and sensors. The study generated 4318 h of valid PM10 data, with 97.8% data completeness. The average daily mean (ADM) PM10 concentration in the house exhaust air, standardized to 20 °C and 1 atm, was 236 ± 162 (ADM ± standard deviation) µg m−3. The ADM net PM10 emission was 18.9 ± 2.2 mg d−1 hen−1. Increasing outdoor temperatures were correlated with decreased indoor PM10 concentrations but increased overall emissions. Comparison with the ADM emission of 12.4 ± 13.3 mg d−1 hen−1 from the same house during a previous six-month study in 2004–2005 revealed that artificial hen molting in this study increased PM10 concentrations and emissions. Extrapolating the ADM PM10 emission from the house, the ADM PM10 emission from the entire egg farm was estimated at 35.6 ± 31.1 kg d−1 (or 35.6 ± 4.5 kg d−1 with a 95% confidence interval). This study provides valuable insights into air quality in animal agriculture and contributes high-quality and real-world data for use in data-driven approaches such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, data mining, and big data analytics.