Livestock production is a significant source of ammonia, greenhouse gases, and other air pollutants.

It is not realistic to measure emissions of these compounds across diverse climates, time scales, spatial scales and management systems in order to understand and reduce detrimental effects. This gap is filled by mathematical models, which also offer process insights not provided by measurements alone. Our group develops such models for understanding, estimating, and managing agricultural air pollution.

The models are used for emissions inventories, decision support, resource management, and for testing our integrated knowledge. Emission of ammonia and the greenhouse gas methane from animal waste presently receives most of our attention, but sulfur, and organic compounds from multiple agricultural sources are all in our field of view.

Key principles

• the complexity of a model must align with its aims and available measurements
• models should be incorporated into freely accessible software tools

We work with authorities and agricultural technology suppliers to facilitate the application of our models, and to make emissions estimates or software tools available to users.

Measurements made by other groups in Environmental Engineering, as well as results from laboratory and field experiments that we carry out, are essential for development and evaluation of our models.

Our models and software tools

ALFAM2

Model for estimating NH3 emission from field applied slurry

GitHub source code: https://github.com/AU-BCE-EE/ALFAM2 

Website: https://projects.au.dk/alfam//

Database: https://github.com/AU-BCE-EE/ALFAM2-data

ABM (Anaerobic Biodegradation Model)

Methane emission model for livestock housing and manure storage

R package: https://github.com/AU-BCE-EE/ABM

ABM-farm web app: https://au-bce-ee.shinyapps.io/ABM-farm/

STM (Slurry Temperature Model)

Temperature estimation in slurry storages

Fortran program: https://github.com/AU-BCE-EE/STM

TBR (Trickle Bed Reactor)

Trickle bed reactor model for air treatment

Python code: https://github.com/AU-BCE-EE/tric-fil-mod

Agriculture emission inventory database

Database with activity data and emission factors used in the Danish emission inventory calculations

Web app: https://au-bce-ee.shinyapps.io/landbrugsemis/

KVIK (Klimavirkemiddelkatalog model)

Spreadsheet model and code for estimation effects of mitigation technologies in manure management

Excel model and scripts: https://github.com/AU-BCE-EE/Dalby-2025-KVIK

Report: https://pure.au.dk/portal/files/437605738/Rev_Levering_Opdatering_af_klimavirkemiddelkataloget_2025.pdf

BAT (Best Available Technology)

Best available technology for environmental permits in livestock production 

Website: https://dca.au.dk/raadgivning/bat