Abstract
Comprehensive, spatially disaggregated emission inventories are required for many developing regions to evaluate the relative impacts of different sources and to develop mitigation strategies which can lead to effective emission controls. This study developed a 1 km 2 non-methane volatile organic compound (NMVOC) emission model for the combustion of fuel wood, cow dung cake, municipal solid waste (MSW), charcoal, coal and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) in India from 1993 to 2016. Inputs were selected from a range of detailed fuel consumption surveys and recent emission factors measured during comprehensive studies of local burning sources. For the census year of 2011, we estimated around 13 (5–47) Tg of NMVOCs were emitted from biomass and MSW combustion in India. Around 54% of these emissions were from residential solid biofuel combustion, 23% from open burning of MSW, 23% from crop residue burning on fields and <1% from LPG for cooking. NMVOC emissions from residential combustion were shown to be highly sensitive to the amount of cow dung cake combusted and this acted as a key pollution source across the Indo-Gangetic Plain. The results of this study indicate that multiple mitigation strategies are required across several different categories of burning source to achieve effective NMVOC emission reduction. • New emission inventories developed for burning sources in India. • Estimates made for non-methane volatile organic compounds. • Estimates made for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. • Pollution from cow dung cake combustion significant to North of India. • Waste and crop residue burning also significant pollution sources.
Highlights
Biomass burning is the second largest global source of trace gases to the troposphere after biogenic emissions (Yokelson et al, 2008; Andreae, 2019)
We have developed comprehensive, spatially disaggregated emission inventories for non-methane volatile organic compound (NMVOC) released from burning sources in India
Preference has been given to emission factors from studies which: (1) have many measurements (n), (2) use samples collected from India or (3) use samples collected from similar countries
Summary
Biomass burning is the second largest global source of trace gases to the troposphere after biogenic emissions (Yokelson et al, 2008; Andreae, 2019). Emission factors have been shown to vary significantly for different energy sources such as fuel wood, straw, grass, peat, and cow dung cake (Andreae, 2019). Emissions from domestic biofuel combustion pose significant health risks as approximately 3 billion people cook with solid fuels globally (World Health Organization, 2018; World Bank, 2020). The detrimental impact of domestic biofuel combustion on indoor air pollution was estimated to result in 3.9 million premature deaths in 2010 (Smith et al, 2014), 2.8 (2.5–3.3) million premature deaths in 2015 (Kodros et al, 2018) and 3.8 million premature deaths in 2016 (World Health Organization, 2018)
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