Composition and sources of particulate matter in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and its surrounding areas during the heating season

Xu Dao; Shiying Di; Xian Zhang; Panjun Gao; Li Wang; Luyu Yan; Guigang Tang; Lihuan He; Thomas Krafft; Fengying Zhang

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.132779

Composition and sources of particulate matter in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and its surrounding areas during the heating season

Chemosphere. 2022 Mar;291(Pt 1):132779. doi: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.132779. Epub 2021 Nov 3.

Authors

Xu Dao¹, Shiying Di¹, Xian Zhang¹, Panjun Gao², Li Wang³, Luyu Yan¹, Guigang Tang¹, Lihuan He¹, Thomas Krafft², Fengying Zhang⁴

Affiliations

¹ China National Environmental Monitoring Centre, Beijing, 100012, China.
² Department of Health, Ethics & Society, CAPHRI Care and Public Health Research Institute, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands.
³ Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, CAS, Beijing, 100101, China.
⁴ China National Environmental Monitoring Centre, Beijing, 100012, China; Department of Health, Ethics & Society, CAPHRI Care and Public Health Research Institute, Faculty of Health, Medicine and Life Sciences, Maastricht University, Maastricht, the Netherlands. Electronic address: zhangfy@cnemc.cn.

PMID: 34742769
DOI: 10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.132779

Abstract

This paper aimed to analyze the composition and pollution sources of particulate matter (PM) in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and its surrounding areas (henceforth the BTH region) during the heating season to support the mitigation and control of regional air pollution. Manual monitoring data from the China National Environmental Monitoring Network for Atmospheric PM in the BTH region were collected and analyzed during the 2016 and 2018 heating seasons. The positive definite matrix factor analysis (PMF) model was used to analyze the PM sources in BTH cities during the heating season. The main PM components were organic matter (OM), nitrate (NO₃^-), sulfate (SO₄^2-) and ammonium salt (NH₄⁺). Direct emission sources have decreased since 2016, indicating the effectiveness of governmental controls on these sources; however, secondary pollution showed an increasing trend, suggesting control measures should be strengthened. Daily regional average concentrations of OM, SO₄^2-, NH₄⁺, elemental carbon (EC), chloride (Cl^-) and trace elements all showed similar trends. When air quality worsened, the concentrations of the main PM components increased, but trends of change varied among components. In 2018, concentrations of OM and chloride were highest in the Taihang Mountains, and NO₃ concentrations were highest in Anyang, Hebi, Jiaozuo and Xinxiang. The SO₄^2- concentration was highest in the southern section of the Taihang Mountains. The NH₄⁺ and EC concentrations were generally highest in the central and southern regions. The concentration of crustal substances was highest in some cities in the north and central parts of the BTH region. In the 2018 heating season, the pollution level of five transmission channels showed an increasing trend in the Northwest, Southeast, Yanshan, South and Taihang Mountain channels. These findings provide a scientific basis for the continued management of atmospheric PM pollution.

Keywords: Heating season; PM components; Particulate matter; Source analysis.

MeSH terms

Air Pollutants* / analysis
Air Pollution* / analysis
Beijing
China
Cities
Environmental Monitoring
Heating
Particulate Matter / analysis
Seasons

Substances

Air Pollutants
Particulate Matter