Size Distribution and Contribution of Particles From Rice Straw Open Burning to the Atmosphere in Hanoi

Abstract

Atmospheric ultrafine, accumulation mode and coarse fractions collected at representative rice straw open burning areas in Hanoi were investigated to identify characteristics of size distribution and contribution of particles emitted from rice straw (RS) burning season to the atmosphere. The sampling was conducted in two episodes: RS burning episode and RS non-burning episode at Dong Anh and Quoc Oai, in seven consecutive days for each sampling campaign from 2018 to 2019. In the RS burning episode, PM1-2.5 showed the highest fraction among all collected particles in both sampling sites, while PM2.5-10 was the most abundant in RS non-burning season. The average mass concentration of PM2.5 in RS burning period and RS non-burning period were 79.7  46.5 g m-3 and 65.2  21.9 g m-3, respectively at Dong Anh sampling site. Those values were 90.9  33.2 g m-3 in the QO_RS burning site and 71.9  29.3 g m-3 in the TM_RS non-burning site. The proportion of fine particle (PM2.5) at both sites were considerable higher in RS burning period as compared to non-burning period, while the concentration of ultrafineparticle (PM0.1) and coarse particle (PM>10m) were similar between two episodes. This result provides better understanding on size distribution and contribution of fine particles from open RS burning to the atmosphere in Hanoi, which is an useful information for the environmental managers to control RS open burning in Hanoi as well as in Vietnam.