TAMU Cotton Engineering & Management


Mission
  • The mission of the CAAQES is to provide the research, technology transfer, and educational programs that will result in appropriate regulation of agricultural operations, rapid adoption of new air pollution abatement technology, as well as increase the number of graduates pursuing careers in environmental air quality fields. The concept of the CAAQES is that faculty will conduct research and develop adult educational programs for technology transfer, and course work for both undergraduates and graduate students. The research results will serve as the science and engineering base for the appropriate regulation of air pollution

Our Goals
  • Enhance national and international program visibility
  • Encourage strategic planning
  • Develop, strengthen and expand Agricultural Program expertise and resources
  • Leverage existing A&M System strengths, including interdisciplinary relationships
  • Foster scientific excellence
  • Increase competitive funding
  • Enhance information dissemination
  • Serve as the source of graduates for careers in environmental air quality

Justification for Establishing CAAQES
  • Agricultural operations are economically and technically challenged to comply with the increasingly stringent state air pollution regulatory demands related to permitting, enforcement, and compliance with the Federal Clean Air Act. Permitting issues include controversy associated with Federal Operating Permits for major and non-major sources involving pollutant emission rates and inventories for concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs); cotton gins; grain elevators; feed and oil mills; field operations; and agricultural burning. Enforcement problems are affected by measurement accuracy, use of inaccurate dispersion models, and the lack of accurate emission factors and measurement methodologies. Compliance issues are associated with abatement strategies, cost of compliance, defining and quantifying reductions associated with Best Management Practices (BMPs) and Best Available Control Technologies (BACTs). Compliance with air pollution regulations often results in inappropriate and unfair regulation of agricultural operations. The results of inappropriate regulation are financial stress that threatens the economic viability of rural communities. There is a clear need for science-based research results to address agricultural air quality problems and to provide appropriate regulatory procedures to be used by regulatory agencies.

Central Objectives
  • The CAAQES will accomplish its goals by addressing a wide range of research, extension, and teaching objectives including, but not limited to, the following:
    • Develop particulate matter (PM) data bases that characterize PM emitted by CAFO, field operations, cotton gins, grain elevators, mills, and agricultural burning
    • Improve and refine dispersion modeling technology for particulate matter (PM), hydrogen sulfide (H2S), ammonia (NH3), volatile organic compounds (VOC), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and odor
    • Design and develop economically feasible air pollution (particulate matter and odor) abatement systems
    • Develop accurate emission factors and inventories for odor and gases emitted from agricultural operations
    • Develop improved methods to estimate PM emission rates and emission factors based on scientific understanding of the processes and release mechanisms
    • Determine the relationship between ammonia and secondary PM2.5 formation
    • Provide educational programs at WTAMU and TAMU for undergraduate and graduate students that will facilitate careers in air quality engineering and science; and
    • Provide training and technology transfer for agricultural producers, scientists, regulatory agencies, and the public.

CAAQES Proposal
  • Click here to download the CAAQES Proposal