Biomass burning for heating and cooking a culprit behind Delhi's air pollution, reveals IIT-K study

Delhi has been plagued by alarming levels of pollution for a long time. Its air quality remains severely impacted majorly due to mass stubble burning in neighbouring states, as well as emissions from vehicles and industries within the city. Particularly, during the winter months, the air in Delhi is particularly noxious, reeking of chemicals and posing a serious threat to public health.

Adding another aspect to the continuously deteriorating air quality of the Indian capital, a recent IIT Kanpur-led study has revealed that uncontrolled biomass burning for residential heating and cooking further gives rise to high amount of particulate pollution (haze) in the city.

The collaborative study has been co-authored by Suneeti Mishra and Prof. Sachchidanand Tripathi from the Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Kanpur. In addition, the contributing facilities for the research include Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), IIT Delhi, Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) Switzerland and University Helsinki, Finland.

The study revealing biomass emissions as one of the contributing reasons for Delhi's nocturnal pollution during winters was published recently in Nature Geoscience journal.

Under the study, Prof. Sachchidanand Tripathi, stated that the uncontrolled biomass burning for residential heating and cooking in the Indo-Gangetic plain gives rise to ultrafine particles, which further lead to haze formation in winter months. This further affects the health of 5% of the world's population and impacts the regional climate.

The study further points that the reduction of rampant biomass-combustion emissions in the Indo-Gangetic regions may help in mitigating the concentration of particulate matter in Delhi air, during winter months.