Many of the current atmospheric environmental problems facing Thailand are linked to air pollution that is largely derived from biomass burning. Different parts of Thailand have distinctive sources of biomass emissions that affect air quality. The main contributors to atmospheric particulate matter (PM), especially the PM_2.5 fraction in Thailand, were highlighted in a recent study of PM derived from biomass burning. This review is divided into six sections. Section one is an introduction to biomass burning in Thailand. Section two covers issues related to biomass burning for each of the four main regions in Thailand, including Northern, Northeastern, Central, and Southern Thailand. In northern Thailand, forest fires and the burning of crop residues have contributed to air quality in the past decade. The northeast region is mainly affected by the burning of agricultural residues. However, the main contributor to PM in the Bangkok Metropolitan Region is motor vehicles and crop burning. In Southern Thailand, the impact of agoindustries, biomass combustion, and possible agricultural residue burning are the primary sources, and cross-border pollution is also important. The third section concerns the effect of biomass burning on human health. Finally, perspectives, new challenges, and policy recommendations are made concerning improving air quality in Thailand, e.g., forest fuel management and biomass utilization. The overall conclusions point to issues that will have a long-term impact on achieving a blue sky over Thailand through the development of coherent policies and the management of air pollution and sharing this knowledge with a broader audience.

The separation of lignocellulose into its major components (cellulose, hemicelluloses and lignin) is a key step in lignocellulosic biorefineries. Most pretreatments of lignocellulosic biomass into chemicals or biofuels are currently based on expensive chemical and energy consuming processes, which entail significant resource consumption (e.g. water) and generate a number of residual streams. In this work, two innovative dry fractionation technologies (physical fractionation: turbo- and electrostatic separation of lignocellulose particles) have been developed for rice straw “RS” fractionation and bioconversion to sugars and biofuels. Turbo-fractionation technology (TF-T) comprises particle separation according to their size and density, whereas electrostatic fractionation technology (EF-T) is based on the separation of particles according to their surface properties (chemical composition and charges). TF-T and EF-T are suitable for producing lignocellulose fractions displaying very different structures, biochemical compositions and reactive surfaces without extensively damaging the raw fibers as well as minimizing waste generation (E-factor: 0.7–0.75). The produced fractions could be hydrolyzed, being able to produce large quantities of glucose (250–280 g kg⁻¹ RS) after 72 h of hydrolysis and subsequently ethanol (130–150 g kg⁻¹ RS) after fermentation. TF-T and EF-T can therefore improve the economic feasibility by low energy consumption and produce reactive lignocellulose particles with different physicochemical structures in a short time, which can be easily converted to biofuels, minimizing waste (no effluent generation).

The contamination of hydrosoluble pesticides in water could generate a serious problem for biotic and abiotic components. The removal of a hazardous agrochemical (paraquat) from water was achieved by adsorption processes using poly(vinyl alcohol)-cyclodextrin nanosponges, which were prepared with various formulations via the crosslinking between citric acid and β-cyclodextrin in the presence of poly(vinyl alcohol). The physicochemical properties of nanosponges were also characterized by different techniques, such as gravimetry, thermogravimetry, microscopy (SEM and Stereo), spectroscopy (UV-visible, NMR, ATR-FTIR, and Raman), acid-base titration, BET surface area analysis, X-ray diffraction, and ion exchange capacity. The C10D-P2 nanosponges displayed 60.2% yield, 3.14 mmol/g COOH groups, 0.335 mmol/g β-CD content, 96.4% swelling, 94.5% paraquat removal, 0.1766 m² g⁻¹ specific surface area, and 5.2 × 10⁻⁴ cm³ g⁻¹ pore volume. The presence of particular peaks referring to specific functional groups on spectroscopic spectra confirmed the successful polycondensation on the reticulated nanosponges. The pseudo second-order model (with R² = 0.9998) and Langmuir isotherm (with R² = 0.9979) was suitable for kinetics and isotherm using 180 min of contact time and a pH of 6.5. The maximum adsorption capacity was calculated at 112.2 mg/g. Finally, the recyclability of these nanosponges was 90.3% of paraquat removal after five regeneration times.