Pre-Harvest Sugarcane Burning: Determination of Emission Factors through Laboratory Measurements

Abstract

Sugarcane is an important crop for the Brazilian economy and roughly 50% of its production is used to produce ethanol. However, the common practice of pre-harvest burning of sugarcane straw emits particulate material, greenhouse gases, and tropospheric ozone precursors to the atmosphere. Even with policies to eliminate the practice of pre-harvest sugarcane burning in the near future, there is still significant environmental damage. Thus, the generation of reliable inventories of emissions due to this activity is crucial in order to assess their environmental impact. Nevertheless, the official Brazilian emissions inventory does not presently include the contribution from pre-harvest sugarcane burning. In this context, this work aims to determine sugarcane straw burning emission factors for some trace gases and particulate material smaller than 2.5 μm in the laboratory. Excess mixing ratios for CO 2 , CO, NO X , UHC (unburned hydrocarbons), and PM 2.5 were OPEN ACCESSAtmosphere 2012, 3 165 measured, allowing the estimation of their respective emission factors. Average estimated values for emission factors (g kg −1 of burned dry biomass) were 1,303 ± 218 for CO 2 , 65 ± 14 for CO, 1.5 ± 0.4 for NO X , 16 ± 6 for UHC, and 2.6 ± 1.6 for PM 2.5 . These emission factors can be used to generate more realistic emission inventories and therefore improve the results of air quality models.

Health risks due to pre-harvesting sugarcane burning in São Paulo State, Brazil

“…The Department of Health Surveillance of the Ministry of Health implemented the "Programa Vigiar" ("To watch" program) to measure, assess and prevent health risks to the population exposed to environmental factors related to air pollution. The results show that the pre-harvesting burning of sugarcane straw does offer health risks to the population even in small municipalities 21 , where there is no regular measurement of air pollution by the São Paulo State Environmental Company (CETESB). In addition, the findings may also offer resources for action from epidemiological surveillance and for the establishment of air pollution control policies that address these municipalities and major urban centers.…”

Avaliação da concentração, distribuição de tamanho e composição química do material particulado atmosférico

“…O nitrogênio reativo é adicionado à produção através da fertilização e retorna ao ambiente terrestre ou aquático, causando a eutrofização em lagos e rios por meio do excesso de nitrogênio, além da emissão atmosférica causando a chuva ácida através da formação de ácido nítrico e atuando como catalizador de reações atmosféricas que geram ozônio. Segundo França et al (2012), é necessário ampliar os conhecimentos científicos sobre os impactos do crescimento da produção de etanol no Brasil e gerar inventários de gases de efeito estufa e emissões de aerossóis associados a esta atividade. A queima de biomassa seja ela em atividades agrícolas para facilitar a colheita com a queima das folhas externas, ou a queima do bagaço de cana de açúcar em processos industriais para geração de calor e energia, é uma importante fonte de poluentes gasosos e particulados para a atmosfera (Urban.…”

“…O nitrogênio reativo é adicionado à produção através da fertilização e retorna ao ambiente terrestre ou aquático, causando a eutrofização em lagos e rios por meio do excesso de nitrogênio, além da emissão atmosférica causando a chuva ácida através da formação de ácido nítrico e atuando como catalizador de reações atmosféricas que geram ozônio. Segundo França et al (2012), é necessário ampliar os conhecimentos científicos sobre os impactos do crescimento da produção de etanol no Brasil e gerar inventários de gases de …”

Phosphorus Biogeochemical Cycling in a Sugar Cane Agroecosystem

“…Preliminary trials of fertilization (NPK) for different varieties of sugarcane cultivated in the area indicate no crop responses, in particular to the fertilization with P. As the soils, where have been established those essays, are mollisols, with appropriate levels of available P, the agronomic evaluation suggest that only a fertilization of maintenance, at the beginning of the transplanting, of 50 kg ha −1 , as superphosphate, are enough to cover for Prequirements (Lopez-Hernandez et al, 2006). However, the annual harvest of sugarcane (around 60-100 Mg ha −1 ), together with the burning of the sugarcane crops before harvest, a common practice of management of sugarcane plantations in South America, leads to the loss of significant amounts of nutrients (Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potassium(K)) in theagroecosystems (Vallejo-Torres and LopezHernandez 2001; Franca et al, 2012). In Venezuelan sugarcane plantations, the harvest is done manually, thus plantations require previous burning, an operation which leads directly to atmospheric emissions (CO 2 , N gases and generation of ozone) and the production of huge Science Publications AJAVS amounts of ashes.…”