Chemical source profiles of particulate matter and gases emitted from solid fuels for residential cooking and heating scenarios in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Jian Sun; Zhenxing Shen; Bin Zhang; Leiming Zhang; Yue Zhang; Qian Zhang; Diwei Wang; Yu Huang; Suixin Liu; Junji Cao

doi:10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117503

Chemical source profiles of particulate matter and gases emitted from solid fuels for residential cooking and heating scenarios in Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau

Environ Pollut. 2021 Sep 15:285:117503. doi: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117503. Epub 2021 Jun 2.

Authors

Jian Sun¹, Zhenxing Shen², Bin Zhang³, Leiming Zhang⁴, Yue Zhang³, Qian Zhang⁵, Diwei Wang³, Yu Huang⁶, Suixin Liu⁶, Junji Cao⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, China; The State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, 710049, China.
² Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, China; The State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, 710049, China. Electronic address: zxshen@mail.xjtu.edu.cn.
³ Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Xi'an Jiaotong University, Xi'an, 710049, China.
⁴ Air Quality Research Division, Science and Technology Branch, Environment and Climate Change Canada, Toronto, Canada.
⁵ Key Laboratory of Northwest Resource, Environment and Ecology, MOE, Xi'an University of Architecture and Technology, Xi'an, 710055, China.
⁶ The State Key Laboratory of Loess and Quaternary Geology, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, 710049, China.

PMID: 34090071
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2021.117503

Abstract

Incomplete combustion of solid fuels (animal dung and bituminous coal) is a common phenomenon during residential cooking and heating in the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP), resulting in large amounts of pollutants emitted into the atmosphere. This study investigated the pollutant emissions from six burning scenarios (heating and cooking with each of the three different fuels: yak dung, sheep dung, and bitumite) in the QTP's pastoral dwellings. Target pollutants such as carbon monoxide (CO), gas-phase polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), volatile organic compounds (VOCs), fine particles (PM_2.5, particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter < 2.5 μm), carbonaceous aerosols, water-soluble ions, and particle-phase PAHs were investigated. Emission factors (EFs) (mean ± standard deviation) of PM_2.5 from the six scenarios were in the range of 1.21 ± 0.47-7.03 ± 1.95 g kg^-1, of which over 60% mass fractions were carbonaceous aerosols. The ratio of organic carbon to elemental carbon ranged from 9.6 ± 2.7-33.4 ± 11.5 and 81.7 ± 30.4-91.9 ± 29.0 for dung and bitumite burning, respectively. These values were much larger than those reported in the literature, likely because of the region's high altitudes-where the oxygen level is approximately 65% of that at the sea level-thus providing a deficient air supply to stoves. However, the toxicity and carcinogenicity of PAHs emitted from solid fuel combustion in the QTP are significant, despite a slightly lower benzo(a)pyrene-equivalent carcinogenic potency (Bap_eq) in this study than in the literature. The gas-to-particle partitioning coefficient of PAHs and VOC emission profiles in the QTP differed significantly from those reported for other regions in the literature. More attention should be paid to the emissions of PAH derivatives (oxygenated PAHs and nitro-PAHs), considering their enhanced light-absorbing ability and high BaP_eq from solid fuel combustion in the QTP.

Keywords: Dung cake combustion; Emission factor; PAHs; Pollutants source profiles; VOCs.

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants* / analysis
Animals
Cooking
Gases
Heating
Particulate Matter / analysis
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons* / analysis
Sheep
Tibet

Substances

Air Pollutants
Gases
Particulate Matter
Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons