Assessment of pollution by the combustion residue and smoke of boron blended flash powder

Possible environmental effects of flash powder mixture combustion containing aluminium and boron along with other ingredients like potassium nitrate and sulphur are reported. Once the firecrackers are lighted, they burst out particulate matter and harmful gases with scintillating effect. These particulate matters and the harmful gases together make the environment fogged and get deposited on all surfaces. Recent research suggests replacing aluminium with boron to implement safety during manufacturing and to enhance performance. But the effects of the combustion residue have to be checked and compared before implementation. Hence, in this work, the possible effects of the firework mixtures particularly flash powder mixtures containing aluminium are monitored and compared with the effects of boron blended flash powder mixtures. Based on the smoke settling test, plant growth test and soil test, it is concluded that up to 12.5% of boron can be added in flash powder mixture to prevent pollution of the environment. The threshold quantity of residue without affecting the soil quality for 100 % usage of boron was found as 10 g of residue in 2 kg of soil.