Although sugarcane crop is admittedly relevant to Brazilian economy, the increase of ethanol demand may produce significant environmental impacts. The common practice of pre-harvest burning of sugarcane straw emits particulate material, greenhouse gases, and tropospheric ozone precursors to the atmosphere. Although there are policies to eliminate this burning practice in Brazil until 2020, the effectiveness of this regulation is still questionable and the environmental damages during this period may be significant. Thus the generation of reliable inventories of emissions due to this activity is crucial in order to assess the environmental impact. In this context, this work is a first exercise to determine sugar cane straw burning emission factors in laboratory for some trace gases and quantify total emissions associated with pre-harvest sugarcane burning practice in São Paulo State . Excess mixing ratios for CO2, CO, NOX, and UHC (unburned hydrocarbons) were measured, allowing the estimation of their respective emission factors. Average values for emission factors estimated (g kg -1 of burned dry biomass) were: 1303 ± 218 for CO2, 65 ± 14 for CO, 1.5 ± 0.4 for NOx, and 16 ± 6 for UHC. The relative amount of sugar cane straw burning was also observed in flaming and smoldering combustion steps.
Redes Sociais