Research on emissions inventory for rice straw open burning in An Giang province

Abstract

Rice straw open burning is the most common form of agricultural by-product treatment in developing countries. Contaminated pollutants pollute the environment, badly affect human's health and contribute to the increase of greenhouse gases that impact climate change. This research was carried out to estimate the amount of rice straw produced, a seasonal burning rate and the modified combustion efficiency (MCE) from field-based rice straw open burning by field sampling method, field survey and quick measurement; the inventory is based on emission factors. The results show that 62% of respondents use rice straw for different purposes such as cattle feed, selling, composting... 38% respondents do not use for any purposes. The main disposal method is open burning. Open burning rate is different in each cultivative season. It was 36.36%, in winter-spring crop,  49.32% in summer-autumn crop and 40% in winter-autumn crop. In 2017, total CO2 emissions from open burning were the highest compared with two other pollutants. It was nearly 5.7 million tons and followed by CO with 135.1 thousand tons. The other pollutants emitted from open burning were PM2.5 (50.4 thousand tons), PM10 (14.4 thousand tons), SO2 (7.78 thousand tons), NO2 (0.27 thousand tons) per year. The inventory results show that rice straw open burning in An Giang has been affecting on the quality of the air environment, landscape and reducing the traffic vision; especially fine dust (PM2.5) greatly affects to local people’s health. If all surplus rice straw is used for energy production, it can help not only reduce fossil fuel use, but also reduce the amount of pollutants generated by open burning. This is a win-win solution that should be paid attention by the local authorities to come up with appropriate incentives. Keywords: emission inventory; rice straw; open burning; emissions. Received 20 December 2018, Revised 25 January 2019, Accepted 28 January 2019