Characteristics of Air Pollutants Emitted from Natural Rubber Plantation in Southeast Asian Countries and Evaluation of Environmental Impact

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Emissions of air pollutants from all possible sources during RSS (Ribbed Smoke Sheet) production, transportation inside Thailand, or, transportation of tapped latex with motorcycles, tracks to RSS storage centers and ports, shipping to Japan and rubber tire production in Japan were evaluated based information from related data including LCA data base and the measurement of pollutants on emission sources, showing more than 30% of PAHs is emitted inside Thailand, mostly from the drying process. Clear relations between RSS production amount and ambient PAHs concentration were found to exist: maximum PAHs concentration was observed at maximum RSS production during rainy season, which is about 7-8 times larger than a back ground value. The wind direction was found to have an importance on PAHs concentration: the lowest concentration in Hat Yai for the largest RSS production amount from January to February when the northeast or east wind from Gulf of Thailand is predominant. A clear dependen … More cy of an index for biomass burning was observed in relation to RSS production except January and February. The irradiation of soft X-rays can degrade effectively PAHs in smoke particles from rubber wood burning, where more PAHs was effectively degraded in finer fraction of particles. An electrostatic precipitator was tested and proven to improve the quality of products by reducing smoke particles. Most concern of works was confirmed to be in smoke through interview. Concentrations of gaseous pollutants such as NO_2 and SO_2 in the workplace of RSS factory were rather low while PAHs concentration is quite high, where more than a few hundred ng/m^3 of PAHs were observed. This may be mostly from a smoke leakage from drying room. 1-OHP (Hydorxine pyrene) increased with PM concentration while a tendency between Pyrene and 1-OHP concentrations was not clear. Sediment samples were collected from a lake in Trang province, which provide information on a history of environmental change after RSS production was started 100 years ago. Less