Charvesting
Eliminate Rice Field Burning in Haryana and Punjab to Ultimately Reduce Air and Water Pollution in Delhi
The Problem:
Burning of up to 60 megatons of rice straw every year contributes to some of the worst air pollution in Delhi. The image on the right from NASA shows rice straw fires shown in red in Northern India. Last November saw Delhi exceeding a PM2.5 air quality index of 300 most days of the month, with many days exceeding 400, the worst and most hazardous designation on the Air Quality Index scale, largely due to the fires that were set in rice fields.
Every year most farmers in Punjab and Haryana burn the crop residues after the rice (paddy) harvesting is over, so as to prepare the fields quickly for wheat and other Rabi season crops. This burning of rice straw (stubble) emits large amounts of particulate matter and several gases including smog-forming carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide etc. Every year, around 60 Mega tonnes of paddy residue is burnt openly, and the two states contribute to 48% of total emissions due to paddy burning across India. It is estimated that India annually emits millions of tons of total particulate matter from open burning of stubble. NASA satellites have captured images of these areas with active burning and fires spanning more than 250 kms from east to west, which even obscured the satellite view of Delhi during stubble-burning months of Oct-Nov. The dramatic increase in the Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi exceeding a particulate concentration of 300-400 (PM2.5) during these months, including most days of November, provides further evidence of the impact of stubble burning in Northern India including Delhi.
Apart from the environmental impact, stubble burning has been found to cause serious health hazards in Punjab and Haryana. A recent study by Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru says that “people in rural Punjab have to spend Rs. 7.6 crore every year on treatments for ailments caused by stubble burning.” The importance of the issue has been acknowledged by governments in Punjab and Haryana. Stubble burning is actually illegal. However it is still practiced by many farmers as it is inexpensive and time efficient.
Every year most farmers in Punjab and Haryana burn the crop residues after the rice (paddy) harvesting is over, so as to prepare the fields quickly for wheat and other Rabi season crops. This burning of rice straw (stubble) emits large amounts of particulate matter and several gases including smog-forming carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrogen dioxide etc. Every year, around 60 Mega tonnes of paddy residue is burnt openly, and the two states contribute to 48% of total emissions due to paddy burning across India. It is estimated that India annually emits millions of tons of total particulate matter from open burning of stubble. NASA satellites have captured images of these areas with active burning and fires spanning more than 250 kms from east to west, which even obscured the satellite view of Delhi during stubble-burning months of Oct-Nov. The dramatic increase in the Air Quality Index (AQI) of Delhi exceeding a particulate concentration of 300-400 (PM2.5) during these months, including most days of November, provides further evidence of the impact of stubble burning in Northern India including Delhi.
Apart from the environmental impact, stubble burning has been found to cause serious health hazards in Punjab and Haryana. A recent study by Institute for Social and Economic Change, Bengaluru says that “people in rural Punjab have to spend Rs. 7.6 crore every year on treatments for ailments caused by stubble burning.” The importance of the issue has been acknowledged by governments in Punjab and Haryana. Stubble burning is actually illegal. However it is still practiced by many farmers as it is inexpensive and time efficient.
The Solution:
Climate Foundation, Tide Technocrats Pvt. Ltd (Bengaluru) and partners are working to affordably recycle rice straw to restore depleted lands and eliminate rice-field burning, while at the same time to increase the productivity of lands in Haryana and Punjab where much of the rice burning occurs today. We want to help farmers reduce air pollution and comply with existing air pollution laws with minimal cost and effort. This approach will ultimately lead to significant reduction in air pollution in most of Northern India including Delhi, improved productivity for the farmer, and carbon sequestration in soils, representing a true win-win-win for all concerned.
The Climate Foundation is working to transform the current practice of open rice-straw burning into cost-effective, clean conversion to biochar. The Biochar Reactor has been successfully developed by the Climate Foundation for high-moisture biomass, currently operating in Bengaluru, India and other regions. We plan to extend operations to crop stubble. The process will pyrolyze the crop stubble into char, producing syngas that is oxidized catalytically into carbon dioxide and water. This process is enhanced by a catalytic converter to ensure complete oxidation, thereby providing clean emissions. Air pollution will be substantially reduced with this practice, and will reduce health ailments caused by burning in nearby areas.
In addition to biochar conversion, the process heat from the Biochar Reactor can provide transformational sanitation services to small towns and villages in the future. The Climate Foundation is developing an integrated municipal solid waste process that provides recycling of organics and sanitation at one peri-urban site near Bengaluru. This process provides sanitized water with high-value macro-nutrients for agricultural and other use. This water later flows through Delhi, via the Yamuna River, providing essential reduction in water pollution entering Delhi. Together these services transform air and water pollution problems into clean air, restored land, cleaner water, and carbon sequestration for climate change mitigation, all at a positive net present economic value.
Along with the above benefits, the generated biochar can greatly improve soil productivity. The biochar will be combined with compost from municipal solid waste to generate enhanced compost that can restore land productivity, improve efficiency of fertilizer use, useful in saline soil remediation, and sequester carbon in the soils for centuries to come. Biochar-enhanced soils increase adsorption of fertilizers, retain water better and restore nutrients back into soil, much of which was wasted in the past by burning. By university estimates, over Rs. 70 crores (US$ 10M) in fertilizer value is lost each year to burning, much of which will be saved by the proposed approach.
The Climate Foundation is working to transform the current practice of open rice-straw burning into cost-effective, clean conversion to biochar. The Biochar Reactor has been successfully developed by the Climate Foundation for high-moisture biomass, currently operating in Bengaluru, India and other regions. We plan to extend operations to crop stubble. The process will pyrolyze the crop stubble into char, producing syngas that is oxidized catalytically into carbon dioxide and water. This process is enhanced by a catalytic converter to ensure complete oxidation, thereby providing clean emissions. Air pollution will be substantially reduced with this practice, and will reduce health ailments caused by burning in nearby areas.
In addition to biochar conversion, the process heat from the Biochar Reactor can provide transformational sanitation services to small towns and villages in the future. The Climate Foundation is developing an integrated municipal solid waste process that provides recycling of organics and sanitation at one peri-urban site near Bengaluru. This process provides sanitized water with high-value macro-nutrients for agricultural and other use. This water later flows through Delhi, via the Yamuna River, providing essential reduction in water pollution entering Delhi. Together these services transform air and water pollution problems into clean air, restored land, cleaner water, and carbon sequestration for climate change mitigation, all at a positive net present economic value.
Along with the above benefits, the generated biochar can greatly improve soil productivity. The biochar will be combined with compost from municipal solid waste to generate enhanced compost that can restore land productivity, improve efficiency of fertilizer use, useful in saline soil remediation, and sequester carbon in the soils for centuries to come. Biochar-enhanced soils increase adsorption of fertilizers, retain water better and restore nutrients back into soil, much of which was wasted in the past by burning. By university estimates, over Rs. 70 crores (US$ 10M) in fertilizer value is lost each year to burning, much of which will be saved by the proposed approach.
In The News:
The Times of India:
3 green ideas make cut, to get govt support
By TNN | Published: October 22, 2016
*****************
The Economic Times:
Delhi govt names 3 organisations that will work to reduce pollution
By PTI | Published: October 21, 2016
*****************
The Times of India:
How crop waste can give it back to soil and keep the air clean too
By TNN | Published: October 16, 2016
*****************
UN Bonn
How crop waste can give it back to soil and keep the air clean too
Published: October 10, 2016
3 green ideas make cut, to get govt support
By TNN | Published: October 22, 2016
*****************
The Economic Times:
Delhi govt names 3 organisations that will work to reduce pollution
By PTI | Published: October 21, 2016
*****************
The Times of India:
How crop waste can give it back to soil and keep the air clean too
By TNN | Published: October 16, 2016
*****************
UN Bonn
How crop waste can give it back to soil and keep the air clean too
Published: October 10, 2016