Characterisation of emission from open-field burning of crop residue during harvesting period in north-west India

Open-field crop residue burning is one of the important sources of atmospheric pollution in north-west India during the harvesting period. In this work, we studied NO2 and SO2 concentrations and physical and chemical properties of aerosols from open-field combustion of rice and wheat residue. NO2 and SO2 were analysed using UV-spectrophotometer and ion chromatography (IC) respectively. The aerosol particles were analysed by scan electron microscopy coupled with energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (SEM-EDX) for their physical dimension (size distribution) and elemental composition, and by IC for their ionic content. The measured concentrations of gases during burning showed rice straw burning spews more NO2 and SO2 than wheat straw burning. The calculated size of the particles ranged from 0.26 to 151.09m with high standard deviation. The median diameter of 1.64m (+/- 6.9) represented the central tendency of the particles emitted due to this combustion process. Comparative content analysis revealed that rice-borne particles are richer in Na, K, Al, Si and Zn, whereas, wheat-borne particles are more abundant in C, Mg, Fe, P and Cl. The results from IC and SEM-EDX evidenced the presence of fluoride, sulphate, carbonate, chloride, oxides and silicate compounds in particles. The emission of greenhouse gases (GHGs) and aerosols with this particle chemistry increases the atmospheric opacity through the absorption and scattering of incoming radiation at a significant amount in the UV-IR range causing high aerosol optical depth (AOD).