Environmental aspects of burning field residues for use as an alternative fuel

Abstract

The growing need for energy with concomitant preservation of the environment imposed the need for finding renewable, alternative, environmentally friendly energy sources. Utilization of biomass energy, deriving from residues of field crops, offers numerous advantages. Plant biomass is a renewable source of energy. Its burning does not contribute significantly to the atmosphere CO2, the contamination with NOx and SOx is low, and the amount of ash remaining aſter combustion is small. Therefore, it is ecologically acceptable. The negative aspects evolve form the fact that organic and mineral matter contained in the harvest residues plays an important role in the cycling of nutrients within agroecosystems. Those nutrients are completely or partly lost when harvested residues are burned. Therefore, regular removal of harvest residues or their burning in the field, without regular application of organic fertilizers which would compensate for lost nutrients and beneficial effect that organic matter has on soil properties, may have long- term negative consequences for soil fertility. Taking into consideration the importance of harvest residues in cycling of nutrients within the agroecosystems and their positive effect on soil properties, it is very wrong to assess their value only on the basis of the value of energy obtained by their burning