Estimation of Emission Flux of Particulate Matter by Agricultural Burning in Rural Areas using Scanning LIDAR

Abstract

The Korean government enforces a fine dust seasonal management system to reduce aerosols emitted from illegal incineration in rural areas during the winter and spring period. The burning of agricultural by-products in rural areas is prohibited by law but is still prevalent. Illegal incinerations mainly occur on a small scale in a wide area, so managing and controlling them is difficult. To estimate the emission flux of PM from agricultural burning, we used scanning Light Detection and Range (Lidar). The scanning Lidar can observe mass concentration in an area with a radius of 5 km at 30-minute intervals with a distance resolution of 30 m. We calculated the upward velocity using the relationship between the plume central velocity and mass entrainment rate in the plume rise model, then estimated the emission flux using mass concentration and plume distribution range. The emission fluxes of PM 2.5 in stagnant and diffused cases were 1.17 kg/h and 2.09 kg/h, respectively. Annualized values of the emission flux were 0.11 tons/year and 0.20 tons/year according to the number of observations. These were slightly lower than the national emission inventory (4.98 tons/year). The difference might be because the emission inventory was overestimated or there were errors in the process of annualization.