The fast development of large-scale intensive animal husbandry has led to an increased proportion of atmospheric pollution arising from livestock and poultry housing. Atmospheric pollutants, including particulate matter (PM), ammonia (NH₃), hydrogen sulfide (H₂S), and greenhouse gases (GHG), as well as other hazardous materials (e.g., gases, bacteria, fungi and viruses), have significant influences upon the local atmospheric environment and the health of animals and nearby residents. Therefore, it is imperative to develop livestock and poultry housing mitigation strategies targeting atmospheric pollution, to reduce its negative effects on the ambient atmosphere and to promote sustainable agricultural production. In this paper, we summarize the various strategies applied for reducing outlet air pollutants and purifying inlet air from mechanical ventilated livestock and poultry housing. This review highlights the current state of knowledge on the removal of various atmospheric pollutants and their relative performance. The potential optimization of processes and operational design, material selection, and other technologies, such as electrostatic spinning, are discussed in detail. The study provides a timely critical analysis to fill the main research gaps or needs in this domain by using practical and stakeholder-oriented evaluation criteria.

Air pollutants, such as particulate matter (PM) and ammonia (NH₃), generated by intensive animal farming pose considerable threats to human health, animal welfare, and ecological balance. Conventional materials are often ineffective at simultaneously removing multiple pollutants, maintaining a low pressure drop, and ensuring durability in heavily polluted environments. Inspired by the dust-retention properties of Pinus sylvestris var. mongolica (PS) needles, this study developed a biomimetic grooved ribbon fiber using electrospinning technology. These fibers were further assembled into a three-dimensional bioinspired aerogel structure through freeze-forming technology to achieve efficient dust capture. Additionally, the introduction of UiO-66-NH₂ nanoparticles significantly enhanced the properties of the aerogels for NH₃ adsorption. Among the various prepared aerogels (PG, UPG-5, UPG-10, UPG-15, and UPG-20), UPG-10 demonstrated the best performance, achieving a filtration efficiency of 99.24% with a pressure drop of 95 Pa. Notably, it exhibited a remarkable dust-holding capacity of 147 g/m², and its NH₃ adsorption capacity reached 99.89 cm³/g, surpassing PG aerogel by 31.46 cm³/g. Additionally, UPG-10 exhibited outstanding elasticity, maintaining over 80% of its original shape after 30 compression cycles. This biomimetic aerogel presents a promising solution for air purification, contributing to improved agricultural efficiency and environmental sustainability.

Reliable ammonia (NH₃) monitoring is essential for environmental control in intensive livestock production, where airborne particulate matter (PM) can interfere with gas sampling and shorten filter service life. In this study, leaf-inspired pre-filtration inlet tubes were developed by integrating the strip-spiny morphology of juniper leaves and leaf-surface grooves, ridges, and trichomes into 12 configurations. Their filtration efficiency, pressure drop, quality factor, reusability, and particle-transport mechanisms were evaluated experimentally and through computational fluid dynamics simulations. N-S-G, N-S-T, and N-B-G achieved total PM filtration efficiencies of 81.6%, 79.1%, and 78.4%, respectively. The optimized N-S-G increased total filtration efficiency by nearly 40% compared with the non-bionic inlet tube and exhibited the highest overall quality factor. Simulations indicated that particle capture was enhanced by successive inertial impaction and interception on bionic surfaces and tube walls, while the meandering flow path promoted additional deposition with limited pressure loss. N-S-G also extended membrane-filter service life by 99.27% and reduced NH₃ measurement deviation from 7.42 to 0.97 ppm. These results demonstrate that leaf-inspired pre-filtration can improve the durability and reliability of NH₃ monitoring in dust-laden livestock environments.