Assessment of contribution of open biomass burning to the air pollution burden in the Bangkok metropolitan region | |
| Author | Manandhar, Bhai Raja |
| Call Number | AIT Thesis no.EV-03-4 |
| Subject(s) | Air|xPollution -- Thailand -- Bangkok Biomass -- Thailand -- Bangkok |
| Note | A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering. |
| Publisher | Asian Institute of Technology |
| Series Statement | Thesis ; no. EV-03-4 |
| Abstract | Disposal and management of crop residues is a vital aspect of agricultural activities in any country. Despite having a sound industrial base, Thailand is still dependent to greater extent on its agricultural production to boost her economy. Paddy is the most important crop throughout the country both in terms of its use as a major food source, i.e. rice, and as an export commodity to earn foreign currency. Open burning of crop residues and specially paddy straw burning in the fields is extensively practiced till today as a cheap means of disposal of the agricultural wastes and also of recovering some soil nutrients in the form of potassium from it. Open burning of biomass is characteristically incomplete combustion and leads to emission of variety of air pollutants such as fine particulate matter, VOCs, and P AHs, all of which are hazardous to human health in one or the other way. The extensive open burning of crop residues is already a matter of concern for the Thai government, which is learnt to have initiated some measures to discourage open burning practice and regulate it. In the BMR, which comprises 5 provinces including Bangkok City, the paddy-cultivated area is the largest among all other crops. The thesis research limits its scope to paddy crop for studying the emission profile and determining the emission factors of the pollutants emitted from the burning of crop residues. The field sampling produced the profiles of PM, which has chloride in the highest concentration of 0.00025 μg/m3 (at 25 °c), 0.00061 μg/m3 (at 25 °q and 0.00014 μg/m3 (at 25 °C) in the PM2.5, PM10 and TSP respectively. Among the five PAHs that were detected in the field sample, acenaphthylene was found to be in the highest concentration of 0.402 μg/m3 (at 25 °c). Among 22 voes detected in the field sampling, methylene chloride was found in the highest concentration of 42.053 mg/m3 (at 25 °c). As indicated by the lab experiment to determine emission factors (EF), TSP was found to have an EF of 29.73 g/m2 while PM25 was found to have an EF of 2.5 g/m2 . Similarly, among 6 ions detected, chloride has the highest EF of 1.17 μg/m2 followed by potassium which has the EF of 0.68 μg/m2 . Likewise, among the detected P AHs, acenaphthene was found to have the highest EF of 0.002 g/m2 while among detected VOCs, bromomethane has the highest EF of 35.0 g/m2 . An effective management program for the crop residue burning is necessary to reduce air pollution burden to the BMR. |
| Year | 2003 |
| Corresponding Series Added Entry | Asian Institute of Technology. Thesis ; no. EV-03-4 |
| 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) | Bhattacharya, Sribas C. ;Shipin, Oleg ;Vithet Srinetr |
| Scholarship Donor(s) | Government of Denmark (DANIDA) |