Particle Size Distribution from Municipal Solid Waste Burning over National Capital Territory, India

Emission of particulate matter and its size and distribution from Municipal Solid Waste (MSW) burning leads to degradation of air quality, the impact on human health, particularly during winter months when Delhi faces extreme pollution events every year. Controlled conditions laboratory measurement was conducted to determine particle size distribution emitted from MSW burning collected across National Capital Territory. The present study aims to determine the emission of number and mass concentration of particles ranging from 0.34 µm to 9.05 µm from MSW burning using an optical particle sizer (TSI 3330). MSW samples collected from different sanitary landfilling sites in the NCT of Delhi have been burnt in controlled conditions in the laboratory. We have determined the emission of particles of different size during different stages of burning (ignition, flaming smoldering, smoldering and pyrolysis) of the samples. Our results correspond to the assumption that MSW burning emits the maximum number of particles (90%) in the range of 1.0 µm, or fine mode, of aerosol.