OICC Press International Journal of Energy and Environmental Engineering 2251-6832 4 1 (December 2013) 2013 11 27 Laboratory evaluation of surface amendments for controlling greenhouse gas emissions from beef cattle feedlots 10.1186/2251-6832-4-41 EN Orlando A Aguilar Department of Mechanical Engineering, Technological University of Panama, Panama, PA Ronaldo Maghirang Department of Biological and Agricultural Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, 66506, US Steven L Trabue USDA Agricultural Research Service, National Laboratory of Agriculture and the Environment, Ames, IA, 50011, US Charles W Rice Department of Agronomy, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, 66506, US Larry E Erickson Department of Chemical Engineering, Kansas State University, Manhattan, KS, 66506, US Journal Article 2013 11 27 Abstract Pen surface amendments for mitigating emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs), such as nitrous oxide (N 2 O), methane (CH 4 ), and carbon dioxide (CO 2 ), from beef cattle feedlots, were evaluated under controlled laboratory conditions. Amendments were organic residues (i.e., sorghum straw, prairie grass, woodchip), biochar from those organic residues and from beef cattle manure, and activated carbon. Manure samples were collected from several randomly selected pens from two beef cattle feedlots in Kansas and used in the experiments, either as dry (0.10 g · g −1 wet basis water content) or moist (0.35 g · g −1 wet basis). For each amendment, four different treatment levels (i.e., amounts of material) were placed on top of manure samples in glass containers and analyzed for GHG emissions using a photo-acoustic infrared multi-gas analyzer. From measured concentrations, emission rates were determined. For the dry manure conditions, all amendment materials showed significant reduction of N 2 O and CO 2 emissions compared to the control (i.e., no amendment). For the moist manure conditions, none of the amendments showed significant effects on GHG emissions during the first 8 days; at days 10 and 15 after application, however, the biochar materials performed significantly better than the control (i.e., no surface amendment) in reducing N 2 O and CH 4 emissions. No significant difference was observed in GHG emissions when the amendments were placed on top or mixed within the top surface layer of the manure.