A district-level emission inventory of anthropogenic PM2.5 from the primary sources over the Indian Indo Gangetic Plain: Identification of the emission hotspots

Abhinandan Ghosh; Pavan Kumar Nagar; Jyoti Maddhesia; Mukesh Sharma; Sahir Azmi; Brajesh Singh; Monami Dutta

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169865

A district-level emission inventory of anthropogenic PM_2.5 from the primary sources over the Indian Indo Gangetic Plain: Identification of the emission hotspots

Sci Total Environ. 2024 Mar 1:914:169865. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169865. Epub 2024 Jan 3.

Authors

Abhinandan Ghosh¹, Pavan Kumar Nagar², Jyoti Maddhesia², Mukesh Sharma², Sahir Azmi², Brajesh Singh², Monami Dutta³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur, Kanpur 208016, India. Electronic address: abhinandan1011@gmail.com.
² Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology-Kanpur, Kanpur 208016, India.
³ Department of Chemical Sciences, Bose Institute, EN Block, Sector-V, Salt Lake, Kolkata 700091, India.

PMID: 38176557
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2023.169865

Abstract

A district-wise emission inventory was made for the states and union territories (UTs) of the Indian Indo-Gangetic Plain for the base year of 2018 to estimate the emissions of PM_2.5 from various sectors. In addition to conventional sectors, emissions from road dust, fossil-fuelled irrigation pumps, and construction dust were also taken into account. Total primary anthropogenic PM_2.5 emission was estimated to be 3157.3 Gg (or kilo-tones) for the year 2018 of which 32 % originated from the industrial sector, 27 % from domestic fuel consumption, 23 % from open burning, 14 % from road dust, 2 % from vehicular and 2 % from various unorganized sectors. The highest emissions were observed during the premonsoon (1013 Gg/year) followed by postmonsoon (802Gg/year), winter (788 Gg/year), and lowest during the monsoon (554Gg/year). Among the states and UTs, Uttar Pradesh contributes the most in total emissions (39 %), followed by Punjab (19 %), Bihar (17 %), West Bengal (13 %), Haryana (11 %), Delhi (0.9 %) and Chandigarh (0.1 %). Emission for per capita and for billion-rupee of state gross domestic product (GDP) were the highest for Punjab and Haryana. Results have identified the districts of Punjab (Firozpur, Ludhiana, Jalandhar), scattered pockets of Uttar Pradesh (Sonbhadra, Agra, Varanasi, Kanpur, Lucknow, Prayagraj) and lower Gangetic delta (Gaya, Muzaffarpur, Burdwan, both 24-parganas and Murshidabad) as potent hotspots of cumulative PM_2.5 emissions. On the other hand, the districts of Punjab (Faridkot, Mansa, Muktsar, Fatehgarh) were found to be the hotspots for per capita emissions. High emissions were observed from the domestic sector, brick kilns, and micro and small-scale industries, and regulating norms should be more stringent for these sectors. Such a study will be a value add for the policymakers and health experts to assess emission hot spots, pollution simulation, and associated mortality analysis of the region.

Keywords: Emission inventory; Indo Gangetic Plain; PM(2.5); Pocket hot spots.