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Light Absorption Properties of Biomass Burning Emissions in Bangladesh: Current State of Knowledge

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Vegetation Fires and Pollution in Asia

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Abstract

Biomass burning (BB) is a significant source of pollution, both regionally and globally, with severe ramifications for climate change, air quality, and human health. Biomass combustion also contributes substantially to atmospheric pollution in South Asia, particularly Bangladesh. To estimate the environmental impacts of BB, we need to know more about its emissions, sources, transport, and transformation. This article reviews research on the light absorption properties of BB pollutants in Bangladesh. Elevated concentrations of trace elements were found from biomass burning in the rural cooking stoves. Methanol-soluble brown carbon (MeS-BrC) in the commonly used biomass demonstrated higher absorbance than water-soluble BrC (WS-BrC). MeS-BrC has a higher babs-BrC value than WS-BrC, implying that the rate of light absorption on BrC extracted in methanol was higher. Absorption emission factors at 370 nm were consistently higher than at 880 nm. The mass absorption efficiency of black carbon (BC) and brown carbon varied among the common biomass. Biomass burning associated with PM2.5 were dominant throughout the year, particularly in the non-monsoon seasons. The study highlights the current knowledge on light absorption properties, chemical characterization, emission factors, and contribution to ambient PM in Bangladesh.

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Acknowledgements

We are grateful to all of the authors that contributed to the biomass burning research in Bangladesh.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry, University of Dhaka, Dhaka, 1000, Bangladesh

    Shahid Uz Zaman, Md Safiqul Islam, Shatabdi Roy, Farah Jeba & Abdus Salam

  2. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, Dhaka, Bangladesh

    Shahid Uz Zaman

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  1. Shahid Uz Zaman
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  2. Md Safiqul Islam
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  3. Shatabdi Roy
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  4. Farah Jeba
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  5. Abdus Salam
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Correspondence to Abdus Salam .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, USA

    Krishna Prasad Vadrevu

  2. Center for Environmental Science in Saitama, Kazo, Saitama, Japan

    Toshimasa Ohara

  3. University of Maryland, College Park, MD, USA

    Chris Justice

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Zaman, S.U., Islam, M.S., Roy, S., Jeba, F., Salam, A. (2023). Light Absorption Properties of Biomass Burning Emissions in Bangladesh: Current State of Knowledge. In: Vadrevu, K.P., Ohara, T., Justice, C. (eds) Vegetation Fires and Pollution in Asia. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-29916-2_17

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