Emission factors of black carbon (BC) from rice straw open burning specific to District Cianjur, West Java, Indonesia

Abstract

Open burning of rice straw, common practice in Cianjur, West Java, to eliminate rice residues after harvesting. However, the common practice of post-harvest burning of rice straw emits particulate material , greenhouse gases, and short lived climate force to the atmosphere. Open burning of rice residues in the field releases a large amount of Black Carbon (BC). In this context, this work aims to determine rice straw burning emission factors for Black Carbon on particulate material smaller than 2.5 μm (PM 2.5) in the field open burning in Districts Cugenang, Cianjur, West Java, Indonesia. Samples of airborne particulate matter (PM2.5) from open burning of rice straw were collected at seven locations in District Cugenang for eight varities of rice straw, from June through October 2015. The samples were collected using a minivol air sampler. Black carbon was analyzed using an EEL smoke stain reflectometer. Excess mixing ratios for CO2, CO, BC in PM2.5 were measured, allowing the estimation of their respective emission factors. The average of BC emission factor for eights varieties (Mekongga, Hibrida, Ciherang, Inpari, Cintanur, Sarangue, Inul dan Pandan wangi ) was 0.501, 0.817, 0.749, 0.973, 0.794, 0.847, 0.928, 1.099 g/kg respectively. Average estimated values for emission factors (g kg-1 of burned dry biomass) were 0.939 ±0.417 for BC in PM2.5. These emission factors presented provide useful information for the development of local emission factors for Black Carbon from open burning of rice straw in Cianjur.