CO 2 Emission from Rice Husk Burning in Uttaradit, Phitsanulok and Phichit Provinces, Thailand.

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1 CO 2 Emission from Rice Husk Burning in, and, Thailand. Supaporn Pongthornpruek 1*, Rajabhat University, pongthornpruek@hotmail.com Savent Pampasit 2, Naresuan University, Thailand, saventp@hotmail.com Abstract This study analyzed and evaluated the carbon dioxide emissions from rice straw burning within, Pitsanulok and Pichit Province areas in Northern Thailand. The derived information was then utilized to create a carbon dioxide emission model and was also applied to designing the policies to mitigate future carbon dioxide emission from the agricultural area. The study analyzed the amount of biomass in the rice fields, evaluated the amount of carbon in biomass and classified the amount of carbon dioxide in accordance to the rice growing method. Finally, by evaluating 1,364 questionnaires the factors contributed to the emission of carbon dioxide from the rice fields within the study area were ascertained. On average for the 3 provinces, carbon dioxide released from transplanting area equaled 941 kg./rai while that from the direct seeding area equaled 810 kg./rai. It was clear that the transplanting area released more carbon dioxide (from biomass burning) than the direct seeding area. The factors affecting the carbon dioxide emission were the amount of crop, chemical and organic fertilizer application, and rice growing method (transplanting and direct seeding). It was found that the utilization of chemicals and organic fertilizer positively correlated to the carbon dioxide emission. However, no relationship between the rice species and the carbon dioxide emission was found. Keywords: Rice straw, carbon dioxide, biomass burning 1. Introduction Greenhouse effect is so call global warming problem which is caused by increasing of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. The heats are collected by the earth which is covered by greenhouse gases. UN has predicted for years in the future that the temperature of the earth would be increased for 2-4 degree Celsius which can be affected to the sea level for centimeters increasing (Matichon daily, 2007). In addition, the study of the Intergovernmental panel on Climate Change (1992) on Global Warming Potential (GWP) of carbon dioxide showed the result of one(1). In the other hands, the GWP of methane is around 24 and GWP of nitrous oxide is around 310. Even though, carbon dioxide has ability of lower GWP than the other but carbon dioxide was found in the highest volume. It can be concluded that carbon dioxide is the most important gas for inducing the greenhouse effect. By the way, carbon dioxide was produced by human activities which divided to 2 groups; there are industrial activities and agricultural activities. Boonyanopakun and Pavasant (2002) reported that agricultural area would be released carbon dioxide more than industrial area for 8 % in further 50 years. From all reviews, agriculture was the important source of greenhouse gases in the future. Carbon dioxide was released from agriculture in Thailand is caused of rice straw burning for 40 million tons in 61 million farms which are around for whole country (Department of Agriculture Extension, 1999). So, the study on carbon dioxide releasing from rice straw burning is an alternative choice for using research data to create a carbon dioxide emission model and was also applied for designing the policies to mitigate the carbon dioxide emission from the agricultural area in the future. 1

2 2. Methodology This study analyzed and evaluated the carbon dioxide emission from rice straw burning within, Pitsanulok and Pichit province area. In the first studied the amount of biomass in districts by collecting biomass (consisting of rice stubble and rice straw) in the rice fields. One collecting point consisted of 3 sampling plots with the size of 1 x 1 m 2 each. The numbers of collecting point were 367, thus totally there were 1,101 sampling plots in our study. Next, by classifying the amount of carbon in according to the source. Moreover, by classifying the amount of carbon dioxide in according to the rice growing. Finally, by applying 1,364 questionnaires to analyzed the factors contributed to the emission of carbon dioxide from the rice field within the study area. (Table 1) Table 1 Data Collecting of biomass in, and Amphur Thumbol Source Plot Total , Results 3.1 Amount of biomass The biomass in according to the source (rice straw and rice stubble), the study in three province areas revealed that the biomass averagely weighted kg./rai. The biomass from rice straw and rice stubble averagely equaled kg./rai and kg./rai respectively. By classifying the biomass in accordance with the rice growing method, it was found that averagely the biomass from transplanting area equaled kg./rai which was more than that from direct seeding area ( kg./rai). Table 2 The amount of biomass from rice straw and rice stubble Amount of biomass (Kg/rai) rice straw rice stubble Total 736, ,739, ,570, Remark : 1/ Rice fields are in the province that calculated from GIS data

3 Figure 1 Amount of biomass in the rice fields at, and 3.2 Amount of carbon The evaluated the amount of carbon in biomass (rice straw and rice stubble) in this study found that the amount of biomass averagely equaled kg./rai. The amount of carbon from rice straw and rice stubble averagely equaled kg./rai and kg./rai respectively. By classifying the amount of carbon in accordance with the rice growing method, it was found that averagely the amount of carbon from transplanting area equaled kg./rai which was more than that from direct seeding area ( kg./rai) Table 3 The amount of carbon from rice straw and rice stubble Amount of carbon (Kg/rai) rice straw rice stubble Total 736, ,739, ,570, Remark : 1/ Rice fields are in the province that calculated from GIS data

4 Figure 2 Amount of carbon in the rice fields at, and 3.3 Amount of carbon dioxide in the rice fields The amount of carbon dioxide in according to the rice growing method, it was clear that the transplanting area released carbon dioxide (from biomass burning) more than the direct seeding area. Averagely in 3 provinces, carbon dioxide released from transplanting area equaled kg./rai while that from the direct seeding area equaled kg./rai. Table 4 Amount of carbon dioxide from rice straw and rice stubble burning Remark : 1/ Amount of carbon dioxide (Kg/rai) rice straw rice stubble Total 736, ,739, ,570, Rice fields are in the province that calculated from GIS data

5 Figure 3 Amount of carbon dioxide release from in the rice fields 3.4 Evaluation of CO 2 emission from rice husk burning Following the rice fields, province has had highest amount of biomass because of there was rice fields maximum 1,739,000 rai. So that the CO 2 emission evaluation from rice husk burning in, and were shown in table 5 Table 5 CO 2 Emission from Rice Husk Burning in, and CO 2 Emission (Kg) Remark : 1/ 736, ,264, ,739,000 1,533,850, ,570,875 1,290,945, ,046,687 3,542,059, Rice fields are in the province that calculated from GIS data

6 3.5 The factors affecting of CO 2 Emission Finally, with the statistically significant of t less than 0.05, the study found that those factors affected the carbon dioxide emission were the amount of crop, chemical and organic fertilizer application, and rice growing method (transplanting and direct seeding). It was found that the amount of crop had a negative relationship with the carbon dioxide emission; if there were 2 nd or 3 rd crop, the amount of carbon dioxide emission will be less than in the case of only 1 st crop Table 6 Mean and Standard deviation of factor analysis Factor Mean SD Amount of CO 2 (Kg/rai) Amount of crop (CROP ) Fertilizer application Rice growing method ( FIET ) Rice species ( RICS ) Table 7 The factors affecting of CO 2 Emission Factor Coefficient t Sig. t Amount of crop (CROP ) Chemical fertilizer ( FERT _2) Chemical and organic fertilizer ( FERT _3) Rice growing method ( FIET ) Rice species ( RICS ) Constancy Table 8 R 2 = Prob > F = Correlation with factors analysis Variable CROP FERT FIET RICS CO CROP FERT FIET Besides, from the equation, it was found that the utilization of chemical and organic fertilizer positively related to the carbon dioxide emission. The more the farmer applied fertilizer, the more the amount of carbon dioxide was released. Also, the rice growing method did negatively result in the amount of carbon dioxide emission. Since, the rice in the transplanting area were denser than that in the direct seeding area, the former area then released more carbon dioxide than latter area. However, from the study, it did not find the relationship between the rice species and the carbon dioxide emission.

7 4. Discussion and Conclusions CO 2 emission from Rice Husk Burning in, and, the result shown that amount of biomass, carbon accumulation in each area and rice growing method had affected on amount of CO 2 emission from the rice fields. Moreover,the operated method of agricultural residues before burning such as burning in open area after post-harvest and pile rice straw on the fire found that was variables amount of CO 2 emission. (Michael D. Haysa et al., 2005) 5. Acknowledgements We would like to thank the national research council of Thailand (NRCT) for financial support of the research project. References Boonyanopakun,K., and P. Pavasant. (2002). Comparative evaluation of industrial and agricultural emissions of CO 2 and N 2 O. Journal of The Institution of Engineers, Singapore.42: Department of Agriculture Extension. (1999). Rice growing suggestion. 2 nd Edition. Rice working group, rice farm crop promotion headquarter. IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change). (1992). Climate change: 1992, Cambridge Michael D. Haysa, Philip M. Fineb, Christopher D. Gerona, Michael J. Kleemanc, Brain K. Gulletta. (2005). Open burning of agricultural biomass : Physical and chemical properties of particle-phase emissions. Atmospheric Environment 39: p