Cultural and Ritual Burning Emission Factors and Activity Levels in India

Real-world particulate matter, organic carbon, and elemental carbon (OC and EC) emission measurements were measured for different cultural and ritual burning practices. These were (g/kg): 11.36 (OC), 0.27 (EC) and 31.04 (RPM) for Marriage Events; 27.04 (OC), 0.18 (EC) and 123.82 (RPM) for Muslim Holy Shrines; 25.99 (OC), 0.85 (EC) and 47.93 (RPM) for Buddhist Temples; and 3.47 (OC), 7.96 (EC) and 20.13 (RPM) for Hindu Temples. When projected to reasonable levels of such activities throughout India, the total annual emissions would be 72.38 Gg/yr, comparable to those from transport (165 Gg/yr), power plants (19 Gg/yr), agricultural waste burning (428 Gg/yr) and forest and savannah burning (176 Gg/yr).