Page 311 - Refining Biomass Residues for Sustainable Energy and Bioproducts

280 Refining Biomass Residues for Sustainable Energy and Bioproducts

Table 13.5 Percentage of nutrients loss due to burning of rice crop residues.
Nutrients Percentage of loss due to burning

Carbon (C) Almost 100
Nitrogen (N) 80 90
Phosphorous (P) 25
Potassium (K) 20
Sulfur (S) 50

also disturbs the environmental homeostasis. The burning of crop residues in situ is
mainly responsible for the pollution of the environment. It has mainly been
observed to emit high concentration of carbon, nitrogen, and sulfur in the form of
greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, methane, nitric oxide,
and nitrous oxide into the atmosphere (Table 13.4).
The emission of greenhouse gases from the open burning of rice and wheat resi-
dues in Punjab during the month of May and October 2005 has been estimated by
Badarinath et al. (2006). They suggested a lower emission from burning of wheat
residues as compared to that of the rice. This further emphasizes the impact of
burning of postharvest rice crop residues on the environment. Not only the gases
but open burning of the rice residues also emits particulate matter into the atmo-
sphere, thereby causing the culmination of smoke with fog (usually referred to as
smog). This, in turn, causes low or almost no visibility, thus increasing the chances
of road accidents (Kumar et al., 2015). Dense fog situations arising as a result of
the pollution have a direct impact on vehicular journey time and the fuel consump-
tion and costs (Sidhu et al., 2015). Rice residues offer to be a cheap source of nutri-
ents and burning of the same results in loss of the nutrients present. The nutrients
lost in the form of various gaseous and particulate matters (Raison, 1979;
Ponnamperuma, 1984; Lefroy et al., 1994), thus resulting in pollution of the atmo-
sphere, have been provided in Table 13.5.
Open burning of postharvest rice crop residues results in the burnt ashes being
left behind causing blackening of the soil. This holds a negative impact on the soil
health. Though the residual ash is a suitable source of potassium and lowers soil
acidity, but it also further leads to loss of other essential nutrients and organic car-
bon content of the soil (Singh et al., 2006; Jat et al., 2009; Mehta et al., 2013). The
heat generated from the burning of the rice straw raises the soil temperature to a
very high extent, thereby disturbing the soil carbon nitrogen equilibrium (Singh
et al., 2010). The harmful pollutants arising from the burning of rice crop residues
also have a negative impact on the human health. The pollutants are responsible for
causing chronic diseases of the heart and lung ailments. They also cause respiratory
issues such as asthma, coughing, thereby affecting the children and pregnant
women in particular (Mittal et al., 2009; Long et al., 1998; Singh et al., 2011).
Burning of rice crop residues relate to a higher concentration of benzene in the
atmosphere. Studies have also revealed the chances of leukemia, aplastic anemia,
vertigo, pancytopenia, nausea, headache, and drowsiness due to exposure to