Keywords

Biomass burning; volatile organic compounds; emissions; emission factor; combustion efficiency; emission ratio; ozone

Abstarct

Biomass burning is the burning of living and dead vegetation. 90% of all biomass-burning events are thought to be initiated by human activities. Human-induced fires are used for land management, such as shifting cultivation, agricultural expansion, deforestation, bush control, weed and residue burning, harvesting practices, and forest and grassland management. A considerable amount of biomass is burnt worldwide in household fires for cooking and heating purposes. 75% of the world's population is using wood as the main energy source. Furthermore, accidental fires, which are related to population density, political situation and poor management practices, contribute to global biomass burning. Natural fires are grassland and forest fires mainly induced by lightning.

It is estimated that 8,700 teragram (Tg) of dry matter are burnt globally per year. 66% of the biomass is burnt in savannah and agricultural fires, while biofuel and tropical forests contribute about 15% each to the total biomass burnt globally. 42% of all fires occur in Africa, 26% in South America, and 32% are distributed over the rest of the world.

Biomass burning is an important source of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4), and nitrous oxide (N2O). Beyond that, considerable amounts of chemically active gases such as nitrogen oxide (NO), carbon monoxide (CO) and volatile organic compounds (VOC) are released into the atmosphere, especially in tropical and subtropical regions.