Atmosphere 2014, 5, 669-685; doi:10.3390/atmos5030669 OPEN ACCESS atmosphere ISSN 2073-4433 www.mdpi.com/journal/atmosphere Article Estimation of Emissions from Sugarcane Field Burning in Thailand Using Bottom-Up Country-Specific Activity Data Wilaiwan Sornpoon 1, Sébastien Bonnet 1, Poonpipope Kasemsap 2, Praphan Prasertsak 3 and Savitri Garivait 1,* 1 The Joint Graduate School of Energy and Environment, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi and Centre of Excellence for Energy Technology and Environment, Ministry of Education, Bangkok 10140, Thailand; E-Mails:
[email protected] (W.S.);
[email protected] (S.B.) 2 Faculty of Agriculture, Kasetsart University, Bangkok 10900, Thailand; E-Mail:
[email protected] 3 Field Crops Research Institute, Department of Agriculture, Bangkok 10900, Thailand; E-Mail:
[email protected] * Author to whom correspondence should be addressed; E-Mail:
[email protected]; Tel.: +66-24-7083-0910 (ext. 4134); Fax: +66-28-729-805. Received: 27 May 2014; in revised form: 1 September 2014 / Accepted: 12 September 2014 / Published: 23 September 2014 Abstract: Open burning in sugarcane fields is recognized as a major source of air pollution. However, the assessment of its emission intensity in many regions of the world still lacks information, especially regarding country-specific activity data including biomass fuel load and combustion factor. A site survey was conducted covering 13 sugarcane plantations subject to different farm management practices and climatic conditions. The results showed that pre-harvest and post-harvest burnings are the two main practices followed in Thailand. In 2012, the total production of sugarcane biomass fuel, i.e., dead, dry and fresh leaves, amounted to 10.15 million tonnes, which is equivalent to a fuel density of 0.79 kg·m−2.