Studies on Carbonaceous Aerosol and Water Soluble Ionic Species Emitted From Residentialbiomass Burning of Andhra Pradesh, India

Abstract

Biomass is widely used as energy source in rural households in India. Biomass burning is the burning of living and dead vegetation. Ninety percent of all biomass-burning events are thought to be human initiated. Human induced fires are used for a variety of ―applications‖ such as agricultural expansion, deforestation, weed and residue burning, and harvesting practices. Natural fires are grassland and forest fires mainly induced by lightning. It is estimated that 8700 Tg of dry matter/year are burnt each year in total. Emissions from biomass burning include a wide range of gaseous compounds and particles that contribute significantly to the tropospheric budgets on local, regional, and even global scales. The emission of CO, CH4 and VOC affect the oxidation capacity of the troposphere by reacting with OH radicals, and emissions of nitric oxide and VOC lead to the formation of ozone and other photo oxidants. For a large number of compounds biomass burning is one of the largest single sources in the troposphere, especially in the tropics. Biomass burning emissions play an important role in the biogeochemical cycles of carbon and nitrogen. Following the first systematic investigations on fire emissions in laboratory experiments in the 1960‘s, the last 20 years saw an increasing number in studies on biomass-burning emissions in various ecosystems. Recently, our knowledge of the emissions of gaseous compounds in the troposphere from fires has increased considerably. This report focuses on the review of emission factor and emission rates of Particulate matter, Cation, Anion, Organic carbon and Elemental carbon containing compounds. We discuss the implications of our results on such studies. The last decade has seen tremendous advances in atmospheric aerosol particle research that is often performed in the context of climate and global change science. Biomass burning, one of the largest sources of accumulation mode particles globally, have been closely studied for its radiative, geochemical, and dynamic impacts. These studies have taken many forms including laboratory burns, in situ experiments. Budget estimate for carbonaceous aerosols including black carbon (BC) and organic carbon, emitted from the combustion of various fuels, is very important for regional climate studies. Emission factors for carbonaceous aerosols from bio-fuels was determined in a controlled combustion study. The emission factors thus obtained along with those available for other fossil fuels consumed in different sectors have been applied to assess the budget for carbonaceous aerosols from India.