BIOCHAR IN FILTRATION OF HAZE PARTICLES GENERATED FROM FOREST FIRES

Abstract

Indonesian forest fires brought about several negative impacts to the nations around South East Asia. Of which, environmental pollution and health hazards are of a concern, due to the influx of particulate matter released into the atmosphere from the burning of peat lands and forests. In light of the porous nature of biochar, this study explores the capabilities of biochar in filtering such particulate matter. This research paper includes an experimental study, where the filtration capabilities of biochar is tested by simulating haze in a furnace chamber, using lit incense sticks as the source of smoke particle emission. This is done by measuring the level of particulate matter (PM) in the air before and after passing through the biochar filter. The PM levels during the conduct of the experiment were logged by aerosol spectrometers, over an average span of 12 minutes. In addition, the morphology of the biochar was identified through the usage of the scanning electron microscope (SEM), and the chemical compositions of biochar was examined by using the energy dispersive x-ray spectroscope (EDS). The results had proven the filtration capabilities of biochar, with respect to smoke from a lit incense stick simulated as haze emitted from forest fires. It was observed that only the PM10 particles yielded significant difference in mean PM values before and after filtration. As such, the effectiveness of filtration for PM2.5 and PM1.0 particles are deemed inconclusive due to the slight lack of substantial relevance to actual conditions.