Abstract:

The paper discussed the issues on economical and environmental benefits of crop residues burning off or reutilization. The study systematically summarized the domestic academic researches on the causes and hazards of crop residues burning off, and economical and environmental benefits of their utilization, etc. The results showed that crop residues burning off had been become a significant environmental and social problem in China, and the reason that farmers burned off crop residues was always the too high opportunity cost and the low returned to harvest and reutilize crop residues; the environmental benefits of crop residues reusing technologies, such as straw power generation system and straw gasification system, was evident, but the economical benefits were uncertain, affected by technology, raw materials, market and other factors; while the key constraints to large-scale reutilization of crop residues were the high cost of harvesting, storage and transportation and the imperfect relevant systems. Overall, the insignificant comprehensive benefits of existing technology had restricted the reutilization of crop residues in China, which meant the government’s support to promote further technological innovation of related areas was quite necessary.