Assessment of the potential health effects of biomass burning emission in Chiang Rai Province, Thailand | |
| Author | Jutamas Kunphan |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.EV-17-04 |
| Subject(s) | Air--Pollution--Thailand--Chiang Rai Burning of land--Environmental aspects |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Environmental Engineering and Management |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. EV-17-04 |
| Abstract | In Northern part of Thailand, the biomass open burning is a significant source of air pollution causing serious haze conditions every year during February-April month. The Chiang Rai province suffers from the same haze pollution which can cause serious effects on ambient air quality and human health. In this study analyzed the relationships between air pollutants (PM10 and CO), hotspot counts (representing open burning) and hospital records using six years data, 2011-2016 collected in Chiang Rai province. There were high numbers of hotspots during the burning period in every year of six years period, and there was significant difference between the total values during open burning period and non-burning period. For air pollution levels and meteorological variables (wind speed, relative humidity, average temperature and maximum temperature also have significant difference between the average values during open burning period (Feb-Apr) and non-burning period (the rest of the year) with p <0.01. In part of diseases, there were significant between open burning and non-burning periods with p<0.01 for inpatients respiratory diseases, and skin and subcutaneous tissue diseases. While, other diseases including eye and adnexa diseases, circulatory system diseases and digestive diseases have not significant difference. The levels of air pollutants were found to correlate well with the hotspots counts (R2=0.454 for PM10 and 0.334 for CO), and suggested that open burning was an important cause of air pollution in the study area. For the meteorological conditions, the relative humidity was negatively correlated with daily hotspots counts, PM10 and CO which indicated that open burning strongly depends on the air moisture. The dry weather induced more open burning and consequently higher air pollution levels. The multivariate analysis of the principal component analysis (PCA) was applied on the daily measurements of air pollutants, meteorology factors, inpatient and outpatient hospital records of eye and adnexa, circulatory system, respiratory, digestive and skin and subcutaneous tissue diseases of six years. The data were reduced to 4 principal components explaining 66% of the total variance of the dataset. However, the results only show strong associations between air pollutants and hotspots counts. There was no statistical association between the numbers of patients in the five disease groups with the air pollution. To study the potential effects of biomass burning smoke, the deposition patterns in human respiratory tract of particulate matter were analyzed by the Multiple-Path Particle Dosimetry Model (MPPD). The input data was generated by using the ambient air sampling for 5 days in this study. In the burning period, the results showed the average deposition fraction that were 0.117, 0.049 and 0.125 for the head airway (H), trachea and bronchi (TB) and pulmonary region (P). The value of deposition fraction was the highest in pulmonary region that means in burning period the high levels of fine particles that induced more deposition in the region. This also suggests that the fine particles have more potential of adverse health effects in burning period. During non-burning period the results showed the average deposition fraction that were 0.365, 0.079 and 0.116 for H, TB and P regions. Further studies should analyze the association between the PM deposited in the respiratory tract and potential effects which will be used to support the analysis of the hospital records (from more hospitals) and air pollution in Chiang Rai. |
| Year | 2017 |
| Type | Thesis |
| School | School of Environment, Resources, and Development (SERD) |
| Department | Department of Energy and Climate Change (Former title: Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate Change (DEECC)) |
| Academic Program/FoS | Environmental Engineering (EV) |
| Chairperson(s) | Nguyen, Thi Kim Oanh; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Shipin, Oleg V.;Kanchana Kanchanasut; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Royal Thai Government Fellowship; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2017 |