Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from rural household biomass burning in a typical Chinese village

Biomass energy sources are still popular in the rural areas of developing countries for cooking and space heating. Since the incomplete combustion of agricultural residues in home-made ranges might lead to both outdoor and indoor air pollution and cause potential health threat to the rural population, we monitored the ambient levels of 16 US EPA priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) at a typical rural site. Ambient particulate PAH samples (PM2.5 and PM10) were taken during both cooking and non-cooking periods. Source emission monitoring was also conducted for both improved and tra- ditional cooking stoves used in the area. Ambient PAHs had a significant increase during the cooking periods and varied from 72.1 to 554.4 ng/m3. The highest total PAH levels were found during the supper cooking time, in which five- and six-ring species accounted for a large proportion. The observed PAH levels during cooking periods at this rural site were even higher than those in urban areas. A good correlation was found between the benzo[a]pyrene level and the total PAH concentration (r=0.98), making benzo[a]pyrene a potential molecular marker for PAH pollution in the rural areas, where bio- mass burning is typical. The profiles of the particulate PAHs in both ambient air and source emissions showed a high proportion of high molecular-mass PAHs. In addition, emission factors of 16 PAHs from an improved household stove were found to be significantly lower than those from traditional stoves used in China and in other Asian countries.     

Air pollutants contribution and control strategies of energy-use related sources in Beijing

Based on the statistical analysis of emission inventory and ISCST3 model simulation, the emission and ambient concentration contributions of energy-use related sources to the major pollutants of SO2, NOx and PM10 in urban areas of Beijing were analyzed. The SO2 emission contributions of coal burning in power plants, industrial and heating sectors were 49%, 26% and 24% respectively. The vehicle exhaust contributed 74% of the NOx concentration. As to PM10, the industrial sector was the largest emission (28%) and concentration (21%) contributor despite of the fugitive sources. The source emission contributions of VOC and NH3, which greatly influence the generation of secondary pollutants, were discussed as well. This paper also analyzed the control strategies of energy consumption and vehicle sources, based on which the control scenario in 2008 was established and the change of emission and concentration contribution were estimated. The results show that the cleaner energy use, industrial structure improvement, transportation mode modification and single vehicle emission control will greatly improve air quality. The industrial sector will change to the largest contributor of SO2 and as to NOx, vehicle emission control is still important.     

长江中游湖泊表层沉积物多环芳烃的分布、来源特征及其生态风险评价

为明确长江中游地区湖泊沉积物中多环芳烃（PAHs）的分布特征、来源及其生态风险,于2018年7月采集了该地区12个湖泊的表层沉积物样品.采用气相色谱-质谱联用仪（GC-MS）测定了沉积物中16种PAHs的含量.结果表明：12个湖泊沉积物中均检测出16种优控PAHs,PAHs的总含量在572.7~1766.2 ng/g （dw）之间（均值为976.5±285.0 ng/g （dw））.武汉市东湖沉积物中PAHs含量最高,达到1634.8±111.4 ng/g （dw）.与国内外其他地区湖泊沉积物相比,长江中游地区湖泊沉积物中PAHs含量高于国内偏远地区的抚仙湖、青海湖及博斯腾湖,低于东部地区的巢湖、太湖及美国经济工业发达地区的湖泊.根据单体PAH的聚类分析结果,12个湖泊可以分成3种类型,类型1主要以低环为主,占比为64.04%±7.02%,类型2低环和中高环分布相对平均,分别为50.76%±5.17%和49.24%±5.17%,类型3低、中、高环分布相对平均,占比分别为35.35%±3.56%、26.17%±0.45%和38.48%±3.84%.综合该区域PAHs的分布特征及异构体比值法与主成分分析法的结果表明,类型1湖泊沉积物中PAHs主要来源为煤炭、木材等生物质的燃烧源;类型2和类型3湖泊沉积物中PAHs主要来源为煤炭、木材等生物质的低温燃烧以及机动车等燃烧汽油、柴油的尾气排放和工业炼焦等化石燃料的高温燃烧源.沉积物中PAHs与总有机碳（TOC）之间显著的相关性表明,沉积物中TOC含量是影响长江中游湖泊沉积物中PAHs归趋分布的主要因素.长江中游流域湖泊沉积物中PAHs的RQ_NCs值均小于800,且RQ_MPCs值大于1的风险商值法生态风险评价结果表明,长江中游流域湖泊表层沉积物中PAHs整体呈中等风险水平.     

Study of statistically correcting model CMAQ-MOS for forecasting regional air quality

Based on analysis of the air pollution observational data at 8 observation sites in Beijing including outer suburbs during the period from September 2004 to March 2005, this paper reveals synchronal and in-phase characteristics in the spatial and temporal variation of air pollutants on a city-proper scale at deferent sites; describes seasonal differences of the pollutant emission influence between the heating and non-heating periods, also significantly local differences of the pollutant emission influence between the urban district and outer suburbs, i.e. the spatial and temporal distribution of air pollutant is closely related with that of the pollutant emission intensity. This study shows that due to complexity of the spatial and temporal distribution of pollution emission sources, the new generation Community Multi-scale Air Quality (CMAQ) model developed by the EPA of USA produced forecasts, as other models did, with a systematic error of significantly lower than observations, albeit the model has better capability than previous models had in predicting the spatial distribution and variation tendency of multi-sort pollutants. The reason might be that the CMAQ adopts average amount of pollutant emission inventory, so that the model is difficult to objectively and finely describe the distribution and variation of pollution emission sources intensity on different spatial and temporal scales in the areas, in which the pollution is to be forecast. In order to correct the systematic prediction error resulting from the average pollutant emission inventory in CMAQ, this study proposes a new way of combining dynamics and statistics and establishes a statistically correcting model CMAQ-MOS for forecasts of regional air quality by utilizing the relationship of CMAQ outputs with corresponding observations, and tests the forecast capability. The investigation of experiments presents that CMAQ-MOS reduces the systematic errors of CMAQ because of the uncertainty of pollution emission inventory and improves the forecast level of air quality. Also this work employed a way of combining point and area forecasting, i.e. taking the products of CMAQ for a center site to forecast air pollution for other sites in vicinity with the scheme of model products "reanalysis" and average over the "area".     

Identification and Apportionment of Sources of Ozone‐forming Potential for Proper Reduction Strategies

In this study, results of source identification and apportionment for ambient volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from a previous work were used to estimate ozone‐forming potentials (OFPs) of effective sources for developing proper strategies for reduction of tropospheric ozone pollution. The source identification and apportionment of ambient VOC pollution within Yildiz Technical University's Davutpasa Campus (Istanbul, Turkey) was done by positive matrix factorization (PMF). The results suggested five effective source groups with the emissions related with paint use and solvent use having the highest contributions (36.8 and 28.2%). The results from PMF were used along with maximum incremental reactivities to estimate potentials of individual sources for ozone formation. It was found that biogenic emissions (3.78) and traffic related emissions (gasoline and diesel vehicle exhaust) (3.83 and 3.15, respectively) have the highest potential for ozone formation in terms of grams O₃/g VOC emitted. The results were used to suggest proper source‐based reduction strategies for OFP.     

Factors influencing variability of mercury input to the southern Baltic Sea

The southern Baltic countries have been identified as significant sources of Hg into the sea. Are anthropogenic activities the sole source? How do meteorological parameters influence the deposition? Studies on input of Hg to the Baltic were conducted in 2008–2012 in the Polish coastal stations. The riverine load was found to depend directly or indirectly on the amount of precipitation and catchment type. Input of atmospheric Hg increased along with the number of precipitation episodes from remote maritime air masses, as well as with the number of days when continental air masses from regional (when domestic heating prevailed) and remote sources moved over the Baltic, during the heating season. During the non-heating season metal input was found to be proportional to episodes of rain from continental regional air masses and to the number of days under influence of continental and maritime air masses from regional sources.     

Concentration,composition and sources of PAHs in the coastal sediments of the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of Qatar,Arabian Gulf

Surface sediments were collected from sixteen locations in order to assess levels and sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in sediments of Qatar exclusive economic zone (EEZ). Samples were analyzed for 16 parent PAHs, 18 alkyl homologs and for dibenzothiophenes. Total PAHs concentration (∑PAHs) ranged from 2.6 ng g⁻¹ to 1025 ng g⁻¹. The highest PAHs concentrations were in sediments in and adjacent to harbors. Alkylated PAHs predominated most of the sampling locations reaching up to 80% in offshore locations. Parent PAHs and parent high molecular weight PAHs dominated location adjacent to industrial activities and urban areas. The origin of PAHs sources to the sediments was elucidated using ternary plot, indices, and molecular ratios of specific compounds such as (Ant/Phe + Ant), (Flt/Flt + Pyr). PAHs inputs to most coastal sites consisted of mixture of petroleum and combustion derived sources. However, inputs to the offshore sediments were mainly of petroleum origin.     

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in a large South American industrial coastal area (Santos Estuary, Southeastern Brazil): sources and depositional history

Located in southeastern Brazil, the Santos Estuary has the most important industrial and urban population area of South America. Since the 1950's, increased urbanization and industrialization near the estuary margins has caused the degradation of mangroves and has increased the discharge of sewage and industrial effluents. The main objectives of this work were to determine the concentrations and sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in sediment cores in order to investigate the input of these substances in the last 50 years. The PAHs analyses indicated multiple sources of these compounds (oil and pyrolitic origin), basically anthropogenic contributions from biomass, coal and fossil fuels combustion. The distribution of PAHs in the cores was associated with the formation and development of Cubat?o industrial complex and the Santos harbour, waste disposal, world oil crisis and the pollution control program, which results in the decrease of organic pollutants input in this area.     

北京及周边气溶胶区域影响与大雾相关特征的研究进展

针对2011年12月初北京及华北持续近一周的严重大雾天气这一热点事件,从城市群大雾过程气溶胶区域影响的视角,基于"973"项目"北京及周边地区大气-水-土环境污染机理与调控原理"的研究工作,就北京及周边地区大雾天气与大气气溶胶区域影响的关系等方面进行了讨论.研究表明,北京城市大雾前低空SO₂和NO₂浓度存在"积聚"与"突增"现象.北京及周边地区冬季雾日数和气溶胶光学厚度则呈正相关,并具有"同位相"的年际变化趋势.研究同时发现北京及其南部周边的冬季气溶胶高值区呈南北向带状分布,其与北京周边居民户数高值区有所吻合,反映了冬季北京城市气溶胶颗粒物的远距离影响源区及大尺度输送效应.统计分析指出,冬季北京气溶胶颗粒物PM₁₀、PM_2.5主要影响成分是SO₂和NO_X,且有关研究也表明,电厂、采暖和工业面源是SO₂的三大本地排放源,而机动车、电厂、工业为NO_X的三大本地排放源,上述大气PM₁₀、PM_2.5主成分污染源亦与雾水样本化学分析结果相吻合,即冬季由于燃煤在生活能源中的比例较大,北京雾水中硫元素和碳元素的含量都较高.因此,北京冬季大雾不仅与北京城区气溶胶及其污染排放影响存在相关关系,而且与北京周边天津、河北、山东等地气溶胶及大气污染物的远距离输送和气溶胶区域影响效应有着重要的联系.因此,北京雾霾天气及相关大气污染的治理工作首先要着眼于局地污染物的减排,但同时如何做好区域大气污染的协同治理也是不容忽视的问题.     

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in a large South American industrial coastal area (Santos Estuary,Southeastern Brazil): Sources and depositional history

Located in southeastern Brazil, the Santos Estuary has the most important industrial and urban population area of South America. Since the 1950’s, increased urbanization and industrialization near the estuary margins has caused the degradation of mangroves and has increased the discharge of sewage and industrial effluents. The main objectives of this work were to determine the concentrations and sources of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in sediment cores in order to investigate the input of these substances in the last 50 years. The PAHs analyses indicated multiple sources of these compounds (oil and pyrolitic origin), basically anthropogenic contributions from biomass, coal and fossil fuels combustion. The distribution of PAHs in the cores was associated with the formation and development of Cubatão industrial complex and the Santos harbour, waste disposal, world oil crisis and the pollution control program, which results in the decrease of organic pollutants input in this area.     

Source apportionment and secondary organic aerosol estimation of PM2.5 in an urban atmosphere in China

PM2.5 is the key pollutant in atmospheric pollution in China.With new national air quality standards taking effect,PM2.5 has become a major issue for future pollution control.To effectively prevent and control PM2.5,its emission sources must be precisely and thoroughly understood.However,there are few publications reporting comprehensive and systematic results of PM2.5 source apportionment in the country.Based on PM2.5 sampling during 2009 in Shenzhen and follow-up investigation,positive matrix factorization(PMF)analysis has been carried out to understand the major sources and their temporal and spatial variations.The results show that in urban Shenzhen(University Town site),annual mean PM2.5 concentration was 42.2μg m?3,with secondary sulfate,vehicular emission,biomass burning and secondary nitrate as major sources;these contributed30.0%,26.9%,9.8%and 9.3%to total PM2.5,respectively.Other sources included high chloride,heavy oil combustion,sea salt,dust and the metallurgical industry,with contributions between 2%–4%.Spatiotemporal variations of various sources show that vehicular emission was mainly a local source,whereas secondary sulfate and biomass burning were mostly regional.Secondary nitrate had both local and regional sources.Identification of secondary organic aerosol(SOA)has always been difficult in aerosol source apportionment.In this study,the PMF model and organic carbon/elemental carbon(OC/EC)ratio method were combined to estimate SOA in PM2.5.The results show that in urban Shenzhen,annual SOA mass concentration was 7.5μg m?3,accounting for 57%of total organic matter,with precursors emitted from vehicles as the major source.This work can serve as a case study for further in-depth research on PM2.5 pollution and source apportionment in China.     

Vertical profile,sources, and equivalent toxicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in sediment cores from the river mouths of Kaohsiung Harbor,Taiwan

Six sediment cores collected at four contaminated river mouths and two harbor entrances in Kaohsiung Harbor (Taiwan) were analyzed to evaluate the sources and potential toxicity of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). PAHs presented the wide variations ranging from 369 ± 656 to 33,772 ± 14,378 ng g⁻¹ at the six sampling sites. The composition of PAHs presented a uniform profile reflecting the importance of atmospheric input from vehicle exhausts or coal combustion in the river mouths. PAHs diagnostic ratios indicated a stronger influence of coal combustion in the Salt River mouth and the prevalence of petroleum combustion and mixed sources in the other rivers and harbor entrances. PAHs toxicity assessment using the mean effect range-median quotient (m-ERM-q: 0.011–1.804), benzo[a]pyrene-toxicity equivalent (TEQ^carc: 22–2819 ng TEQ g⁻¹), and dioxin-toxicity equivalent (TEQ^fish: 37–5129 pg TEQ g⁻¹) identified the Salt River mouth near the industrial area of the harbor as the most affected area.     

Spatial distribution and source apportionment of PAHs in surficial sediments of the Yangtze Estuary, China

Spatial distribution and source apportionment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in the surface sediments of the Yangtze Estuary, especially the North Branch, have been fully investigated. PAH concentrations increased with the descending distance from the inner estuary to the adjacent sea, and varied significantly in various estuarine regions. Water currents (e.g., river runoff and ocean current) greatly affected the distribution pattern. In addition, ambient sewage and traffic also contributed to the PAH pollution in the estuary. In the adjacent sea, PAH values along the -20m isobath were higher than those along the -10m isobath due to the "marginal filter" phenomenon formed by different water currents. In most sites, PAHs had poor correlations with sediment size, but had positive correlations with total organic carbon. Based on the qualitative and quantitative analysis results, PAH sources were proved to be mainly from a mixture of petroleum combustion, biomass, and coal combustion.     

Atmospheric Concentrations and Phase Partitioning of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Izmir,Turkey

Ambient air polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) samples were collected at a suburban (n = 63) and at an urban site (n = 14) in Izmir, Turkey. Average gas‐phase total PAH (∑₁₄PAH) concentrations were 23.5 ng m^?3 for suburban and 109.7 ng m^?3 for urban sites while average particle‐phase total PAH concentrations were 12.3 and 34.5 ng m^?3 for suburban and urban sites, respectively. Higher ambient PAH concentrations were measured in the gas‐phase and ∑₁₄PAH concentrations were dominated by lower molecular weight PAHs. Multiple linear regression analysis indicated that the meteorological parameters were effective on ambient PAH concentrations. Emission sources of particle‐phase PAHs were investigated using a diagnostic plot of fluorene (FLN)/(fluorine + pyrene; PY) versus indeno[1,2,3‐cd]PY/(indeno[1,2,3‐cd]PY + benzo[g,h,i]perylene) and several diagnostic ratios. These approaches have indicated that traffic emissions (petroleum combustion) were the dominant PAH sources at both sites for summer and winter seasons. Experimental gas–particle partition coefficients (K_P) were compared to the predictions of octanol–air (K_OA) and soot–air (K_SA) partition coefficient models. The correlations between experimental and modeled K_P values were significant (r² = 0.79 and 0.94 for suburban and urban sites, respectively, p < 0.01). Octanol‐based absorptive partitioning model predicted lower partition coefficients especially for relatively volatile PAHs. However, overall there was a relatively good agreement between the measured K_P and soot‐based model predictions.     

Design of a sensitive air quality monitoring network using an integrated optimization approach

A new method is developed to design a multi-objective and multi-pollutant sensitive air quality monitoring network (AQMN) for an industrial district. A dispersion model is employed to estimate the ground level concentration of the air pollutants emitted from different emission sources. The primary objective of AQMN is providing the maximum information about the pollutant with respect to (1) maximum coverage area, (2) maximum detection of violations over ambient air standards and (3) sensitivity of monitoring stations to emission sources. Ant Colony Optimization algorithm (ACO) and Genetic Algorithm (GA) are adopted as the optimization tools to identify the optimal configuration of the monitoring network. The comparison between the results of ACO and GA shows that the performance of both algorithms is acceptable in finding the optimal configuration of AQMN. The application of the method to a network of existing refinery stacks indicates that three stations are suitable to cover the study area. The sensitivity of the three optimal station locations to emission sources is investigated and a database including the sensitivity of stations to each source is created.     

Reduction in Exhaust Gas Temperature of Biodiesel Fueled Engine by Exhaust Gas Recirculation

Biodiesel is a renewable alternative fuel that can be used as substitute for mineral diesel. The use of biodiesel in diesel engines reduces all of the exhaust emissions expect NO_x. The higher temperature in the combustion chamber increases the NO_x emissions. The recirculation of a small percentage of cooled exhaust gases into the combustion chamber through the intake manifold reduces the in‐cylinder temperature. Moreover, the cooling of exhaust gases before mixing with fresh air introduced to the engine does not affect its volumetric efficiency but it absorbs the heat of combustion. This leads to a reduction in NO_x emissions and improves the engine brake thermal efficiency. This paper describes the investigation of the performance and emission characteristics of a biodiesel‐fueled, naturally aspirated, single cylinder diesel engine with cooled exhaust gas recirculation.     

Distribution, origin, and potential toxicological significance of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in sediments of Kaohsiung Harbor, Taiwan

Sediment samples were collected from 12 locations of Kaohsiung Harbor, Taiwan and analyzed for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Total PAH concentrations varied from 472 to 16,201 ng g(-1) dry weight. The highest PAH concentrations were from the industrial zone docks situated in south Kaohsiung Harbor. Diagnostic ratios showed that the possible source of PAHs in the industrial zone dock could be coal combustion while in the other zones it could be petroleum combustion. The toxic equivalent concentrations (TEQcarc) of PAHs varied from 55 to 1964 ng TEQ g(-1) dry weight. Higher total TEQcarc values were found at industrial zone docks (from 1404 to 1964 ng TEQ g(-1) dry weight). As compared with the US Sediment Quality Guidelines (SQGs), the observed levels of PAHs at industrial zone docks exceeded the effects range low (ERL), and could thus cause acute biological damage. However, the lower levels of PAHs at the other zones would probably not exert adverse biological effects.     

Distribution,sources, and ecological risk assessment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in surface sediments from the Nantong Coast,China

The distribution, sources, and ecological risk assessment of 16 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in surface sediments from the Nantong coast in China were investigated. The results indicated that the total concentrations of the 16 PAHs in the surface sediments from the study area ranged from 1.4 to 87.1 ng g^? 1 dw (mean value 19.9 ng g^? 1 dw), which were generally low compared to the adjacent offshore area and other coastal zones around the world. The selected PAH ratios and the principal components analysis for each site showed that petroleum combustion and petrogenic pollution (mainly caused by petroleum spills) were the dominant PAHs sources in the surface sediments of the coast. The ecological risk assessment indicated that most of the individual PAHs had few negative effects in this area.     

Revisiting hydrocarbons source appraisal in sediments exposed to multiple inputs

The aim of this work was to test the efficiency of statistical methods as compared to the traditional diagnostic ratios to improve hydrocarbon source identification in sediments subjected to multiple inputs. Hydrocarbon determination in Guanabara Bay sediments pointed out high degradation and ubiquitous petrogenic pollution through the presence of high unresolved complex mixture. Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) ratios suggested pervasive contamination derived from combustion in all sediments and failed discriminating samples despite the specificity of sources in different sampling sites. Principal component analysis (PCA) effectively distinguished the petrogenic imprint superimposed to the ubiquitous combustion contamination, since this technique reduces the influence of PAHs distribution which is common to all samples. PCA associated to multivariate linear regression (MLR) allowed a quantitative assessment of sources confirming predominance of the pervasive contaminant component superimposed to a generalized petrogenic imprint. The pervasive component derives from combustion contributions as well as from differential PAHs degradation.     

Source apportionment of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in surface sediment of mud areas in the East China Sea using diagnostic ratios and factor analysis

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and aliphatic hydrocarbons (AHs) have been quantified for surface sediments collected from the East China Sea (ECS). Our results showed that relatively high levels of PAHs and AHs occurred in both the inner and outer mud areas, while their concentrations at the control site were much lower. AHs for all samples were dominated by the unresolved complex mixture (UCM). Results from diagnostic ratios revealed that sedimentary PAHs were mainly originated from mixed combustion residues of biomass, coal, and petroleum. Combustion residues of petroleum and oil were responsible for the presence of high AHs concentrations. We also conducted factor analysis (FA) to further characterize the PAH and AH sources. Four factors were identified based on the loading of components and attributed to coal and wood combustion (Factor 1), traffic-related sources (Factor 2), petrogenic source (Factor 3) and natural gas combustion (Factor 4).