Elemental PM10 from biomass burning

Abstract

A study has been carried out to investigate the mass and elemental analysis of Particulate Matter (PM10) emitted from the burning of two typical agricultural wastes, sugarcane straws and paddy straws. The biomass samples were burned and their respective smoke particulates emitted during these periods were collected using a MiniVol TAS Portable Air Sampler under smouldering and flaming conditions. The concentration of particulate matter being emitted from biomass burning is gravimetrically measured. The concentration for onsite paddy straw burning is 41.6μg/m³ and for onsite sugarcane straw burning is 27.8μg/m³. Detection and quantification of elemental composition of PM10 from biomass burning were carried out using Energy Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence (ED-XRF).The results shows that the highest element in both agricultural wastes is Tilium. For comparison, the morphology of PM10 of burnt sugar cane and paddy straws were also analyzed using the Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM). The result shows that the burning of sugarcane straw is coarser compare to the burning of paddy straw. The result from this project is then compared to the standard of National Ambient Air Quality Standard (NAAQS) for PM10 particulate matter in ambient air as well as the Recommended Malaysian Air Quality Guidelines (RMAQG) of Malaysia.