CARACT'AIR

The objective is to reduce ammonia emissions, with this reduction in losses to the environment contributing to both better nitrogen management in agriculture and improved air quality, with health benefits.

The Caract’Air device reliably assesses, under controlled laboratory conditions, the cumulative losses and dynamics of ammonia emissions from various substrates: soils, synthetic fertilizers, organic waste products, crop residue litter, etc. This device is based on a mass balance in dynamic enclosures. It has been specifically designed to approximate field conditions as closely as possible (e.g., in-situ soil) or to promote repeatability (e.g., reworked soil) while optimizing ambient conditions (temperature, air humidity, substrate humidity) and exchange conditions (flow rate, head volume, type of sweeping). Thanks to the recent increase in its capacity and degree of automation, it offers great responsiveness to meet the growing demand for reference data. Since variability linked to environmental conditions is eliminated, it also makes it possible to anticipate the behavior of new substrates before their application in the field, and to qualify their potential by comparison with known substrates.

It is regularly used by the Eco&Phy cluster in its various research projects aimed at reducing ammonia emissions, this reduction in losses to the environment contributing both to better nitrogen management in agriculture and to improving air quality, with benefits for human health. It is also used by the Metys EnVisaGES structure in providing services to various economic partners.

The Eco&Phy center is currently adapting this system to the simultaneous characterization of the emission potential of other gaseous compounds: greenhouse gases such as nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide, and other health-related gases such as nitrogen oxides.