Measurement of visible dust emissions during almond nut-picking operations at various harvester settings

Peak ambient dust levels in the San Joaquin Valley (SJV) are often coincident with peak agricultural harvest seasons, particularly for nut orchards. Federal reference methods (FRMs), consisting of mass-based sampling techniques, are designed to measure and analyze ambient dust concentrations. However, FRMs generally require meticulous attention to sampling details, tedious labor and logistics, and time-consuming dispersion calculations. This study used opacity-based techniques - the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Method 9 and the Digital Compliance Opacity Technique (DCOT) - to quickly measure relative dust intensity at different harvester settings and to evaluate visible dust emission reductions using a new/low-dust nut harvester. Results indicate that old/conventional harvester at standard settings (3 mph ground speed and 900 rpm blower speed) produced visible dusts with opacities ranging from 23.3% to 29.0%. The dust plume generated from new/low-dust harvesters at similar settings registered lower opacity readings, with an average of 13.94%. The lowest average dust opacity (7.8%) was achieved when the separation fan was turned off. The present results validated the previous FRM emission findings that an old/conventional harvester has the highest PM emissions, but with a potential to achieve 50% reduction by adopting new/low-dust harvesters. Compared to an old harvester, the relative intensity of dusts was reduced by 40%-51% for low-dust harvesters operated at lower ground speeds. Further dust reductions could be achieved by lowering the fan speed (58%) and operating at no fan/blower setting (66.4%). Both visible emission evaluation (VEE) techniques were able to provide rapid quantitative feedback on the effects of operational changes on emitted harvest dusts. At this stage, opacity-based techniques can potentially be adapted as a screening tool for identifying best management practices (BMP) in reducing harvest dusts, rather than to solely rely on FRM mass-based techniques.Implications: U.S. EPA VEE techniques are established, robust methods of dust measurement systems that can be adopted to evaluate visible dust mitigation strategies in the SJV, alongside the existing FRM protocols. The use of Method 9 and DCOT, as both non-disruptive and rapid dust measurement tools, can bring immediate impact concerning the goal of the almond industry to significantly reduce its PM emissions in the next coming years.