South Korea

South Korea Sets 90 ppm Ammonia Limit For Covered Manure-Fertiliser Facilities

South Korea’s 4 November amendment sets an ammonia limit of 90 ppm for covered livestock-manure fertiliser manufacturing facilities.

Foresight

6 November 20262 min readAI-drafted, expert reviewed

South Korea has amended its Clean Air Conservation Act Enforcement Rule to designate specified livestock-manure fertiliser fermentation facilities as air-pollutant emission facilities and set their ammonia emission limit at 90 parts per million (ppm). Ministry Ordinance No. 67 was promulgated on 4 November 2026 and took effect that day.

Facilities Within Scope

The amendment covers fermentation facilities operated by notified livestock-manure recyclers where the manure-recycling facility’s recorded average treatment capacity is at least 100 tonnes per day.

Where waste is mixed with manure to manufacture the fertiliser, the threshold uses the combined manure-recycling capacity and relevant waste-recycling capacity of the permitted or notified waste operator. It also covers fermentation facilities within specified public treatment facilities that turn livestock manure into compost or liquid fertiliser. Amendment to Annex 3, section 2(b)(13)(m).

Fermentation And Other Operations

The new definition concerns facilities that mature manure-based raw materials through methods such as supplying oxygen. It excludes raw-material storage, pre-treatment, post-maturation, screening and packaging, and liquid-fertiliser storage from that fermentation-facility definition.

The amended ammonia table separately lists livestock-manure matured organic fertiliser manufacturing at 90 ppm or less. Its other rows retain distinct categories: ordinary fertiliser and nitrogen-compound manufacturing at 12 ppm or less, and by-product fertiliser manufacturing excluding the livestock-manure category at 30 ppm or less. Annex 3 note 5 and amended Annex 8 ammonia table.

The ministry’s explanatory note identifies management of ammonia from these manure-fertiliser facilities as the reason for the change.

Official source

South Korean Clean Air Conservation Act Enforcement Rule amendment, Ordinance 67

law.go.kr

Topics

Air Quality

Questions about this change

Does South Korea’s 90 ppm ammonia limit apply to all fertiliser manufacturing?

No. The amended table sets 90 ppm or less for livestock-manure matured organic fertiliser manufacturing. It separately lists ordinary fertiliser and nitrogen-compound manufacturing at 12 ppm or less, and other by-product fertiliser manufacturing at 30 ppm or less.

Which manure-recycling capacity triggers South Korea’s new fermentation-facility designation?

For the notified manure-recycler route, the recorded average treatment capacity must be at least 100 tonnes per day. Where waste is mixed with manure, the rule combines the relevant manure- and waste-recycling capacities. Specified public manure-resource facilities are covered through a separate route.