Real-world characterization of carbonaceous substances from industrial stationary and process source emissions

Min Cui; Yuanyuan Xu; Fan Zhang; Caiqing Yan; Jun Li; Mei Zheng; Yingjun Chen

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158505

Real-world characterization of carbonaceous substances from industrial stationary and process source emissions

Sci Total Environ. 2023 Jan 1:854:158505. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158505. Epub 2022 Sep 2.

Authors

Min Cui¹, Yuanyuan Xu², Fan Zhang³, Caiqing Yan⁴, Jun Li⁵, Mei Zheng⁶, Yingjun Chen⁷

Affiliations

¹ College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, PR China. Electronic address: mcui@yzu.edu.cn.
² College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Yangzhou University, Yangzhou 225009, PR China.
³ School of Geographic Sciences, East China Normal University, Shanghai 200241, PR China.
⁴ Environment Research Institute, Shandong University, Qingdao 266237, PR China.
⁵ State Key Laboratory of Organic Geochemistry, Guangzhou Institute of Geochemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Guangzhou 510640, PR China.
⁶ State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, Peking University, Beijing, China.
⁷ Shanghai Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Particle Pollution and Prevention (LAP3), Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Fudan University, Shanghai 200438, PR China; Shanghai Institute of Pollution Control and Ecological Security, Shanghai 200092, PR China. Electronic address: yjchenfd@fudan.edu.cn.

PMID: 36058339
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.158505

Abstract

Carbonaceous substances in industrial emissions are harmful to human health, air quality, and climate change. Owing to the existence of various fuel types and different technological processes, the characterization of carbonaceous substances from industrial emissions varies significantly, which causes a large uncertainty in source apportionment. Therefore, nine typical industrial sources were selected and separated into two types: stationary combustion and industrial process sources. The emission factors based on different units and profiles of carbonaceous substances, including organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC), subgroups of OC and EC, EPA priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PPAHs), methyl PAHs (MPAHs), and n-alkanes emitted from nine industrial sources were obtained. The results showed that the difference in dust removal efficiency or emission of other auxiliary materials in the industrial process could cause different emission factors for carbonaceous substances. Furthermore, the emission factors of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5), OC, and EC for coal-fired plant were significantly lower than those of residential coal combustion. For profiles of carbonaceous substances in different industrial sources, the relative fractions of OC subgroups emitted from stationary combustion sources were lower than those from industrial process sources, whereas the proportions of EC were higher. The source profiles of nonpolar organic matter emitted from industrial process sources were clearly different from those of industrial stationary source emissions. For the four industrial process sources, the proportion of n-alkanes was significantly higher than that of PAHs, whereas the source profiles for different industrial stationary sources were extremely different. Finally, the concentrations of carbonaceous substances obtained in this study were lower than those reported in previous studies, indicating that marked reduction results were achieved by implementing reduction measures.

Keywords: Carbonaceous substances; Emission factors; Industrial source; N-alkanes; PAHs.