An assessment of exposure to biomass burning smoke for school children in Chiangrai province, Thailand | |
| Author | Sararat Nontachai |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.EV-17-21 |
| Subject(s) | Air quality management--Thailand--Chiangrai Air--Pollution--Thailand Climatic changes--Thailand--Chiangrai 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-17-21 |
| Abstract | In Northern provinces of Thailand such as Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Mae Hong Son and Lam Pang, there are high incidents of haze in dry season. The hotspots (indicator of biomass burning) in northern part of Thailand mainly occurs in the forest areas but are also observed over the agricultural land. The main causes of the biomass open burning include the shifting cultivation, searching of some food in the forest or insurgent from agricultural burning. This activity results in high emissions of toxic pollutants, such as PM, CO and VOCs that lead to episodic haze conditions in the stagnant air in dry season. High levels of air pollution affects human health, especially in sensitive groups. In this study, ambient monitoring and personal monitoring for PM2.5 and BTEX were done both in non-intensive burning (December 12, 2016 –February 8,2017) and burning period (March 5-19,2017). The exposure levels and potential health effects were compared between the non-intensive burning and burning periods to reveal potential effects associated with biomass burning. The monitoring data (PM10 and CO) from the PCD station at Muaeng district of Chiangrai and the daily hotspot counts in Chiangrai were also used in the analysis. The levels of air pollutants were found to correlate with the fire hotspot counts. There are linear relationship between the pollutant levels showing the common influencing sources. Daily PM10 and CO has a linear regression with R2=0.002 and 0.001, respectively. The linear relationship between the daily BTEX measured in this study and CO at PCD station at Muaeng district (20 kilometers away) has lower R2 which may be due to the difference measurement locations and also many non-detected BTEX levels. Higher concentrations of PM10, CO, PM2.5 and BTEX were found in burning period (125.2 μg/m³, 0.91 ppm, 97.6 μg/m³ and 1.09 μg/m³, respectively) than non-intensive burning period (15.9 μg/m³, 0.17 ppm, 6.3 μg/m³ and not detected, respectively). The differences may arise from more intensive burning emission, meteorology and regional transport of the air pollution to the study site. The health survey was conducted for 100 students at 2 schools of Mae Yao sub-district, Muaeng district in Chiangrai to find the time activity data. The measurements of lung function were also done for COPD screening test as an indicator for health effects during burning and non-burning seasons. Two students (11-12 years old) were selected as representative of school children for PEM study. The PEM was conducted for 24 hours with two students (subjects) during non-intensive burning (5 days) and burning period (8 days). The time activities diaries of each subject were analyzed. The BTEX exposed concentrations were not significantly different between the two subjects. The results showed that the subjects were exposed to higher concentrations in burning period (BTEX= 4.90 μg/m³, PM2.5 = 88.9 μg/m³) than non-intensive burning period (BTEX= 0.26 μg/m³, PM2.5 = 36.3 μg/m³). The health risk assessment considered, the non-carcinogenic effects for PM2.5 and Toluene, Ethyl-benzene, m, p-Xylene and o-Xylene. The HQ was exceed 1 which mean potential non-carcinogen effects may be expected to occur. In addition, for Benzene the carcinogenic effect to human is also considered. Cancer risk represents an increased lifetime risk for developing cancer. The cancer risk from Benzene was higher than 10-6 that is considered to be unacceptable value for carcinogenic effects. |
| 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 and Management (EV) |
| Chairperson(s) | Nguyen, Thi Kim Oanh; |
| Examination Committee(s) | Thammarat Koottatep;Kanchana Kanchanasut; |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Royal Thai Government Fellowship; |
| Degree | Thesis (M.Sc.) - Asian Institute of Technology, 2017 |