Differences in concentration and source apportionment of PM2.5 between 2006 and 2015 over the PRD region in southern China

Xingcheng Lu; Yiang Chen; Yeqi Huang; Changqing Lin; Zhiyuan Li; Jimmy C H Fung; Alexis K H Lau

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.03.452

Differences in concentration and source apportionment of PM_2.5 between 2006 and 2015 over the PRD region in southern China

Sci Total Environ. 2019 Jul 10:673:708-718. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.03.452. Epub 2019 Apr 4.

Authors

Xingcheng Lu¹, Yiang Chen¹, Yeqi Huang¹, Changqing Lin², Zhiyuan Li¹, Jimmy C H Fung³, Alexis K H Lau⁴

Affiliations

¹ Division of Environment and Sustainability, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China.
² Institute for the Environment, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China.
³ Division of Environment and Sustainability, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China; Department of Mathematics, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China. Electronic address: [email protected].
⁴ Division of Environment and Sustainability, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China; Institute for the Environment, Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China; Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong University of Science & Technology, Clear Water Bay, Hong Kong, China.

PMID: 31003098
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2019.03.452

Abstract

During China's 11th Five Year Plan (FYP) and 12th FYP (2006-2015), a series of air pollution control measures was implemented in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region. Therefore, it is vital to determine how the concentration and sources of fine particulate matter (PM_2.5) in this region changed between 2006 and 2015. In this work, using 2006 and 2015 emission inventories, the concentration and source apportionment of PM_2.5 were simulated using the Weather Research and Forecast - Comprehensive Air Quality Model with Extensions (WRF-CAMx) for January, April, July and October in the PRD region. The PM_2.5 in 10 cities and the contributions made by sources in six major categories were tracked using the Particulate Source Apportionment Technology (PSAT) module. The results showed that the PM_2.5 concentration was lower across the entire PRD region in the 2015 emission scenario than in the 2006 scenario, and that the degree of this reduction exceeded 40 μg/m³ in some places. The PM_2.5 contributed by mobile emissions decreased the most, especially in Guangzhou, Foshan and Shenzhen, where mobile contributions decreased from 15.0, 17.9 and 13.0 μg/m³ in 2006 to 2.6, 3.1 and 4.1 μg/m³ in 2015, respectively. The PM_2.5 contributed by power plants also decreased, and in Dongguan and Guangzhou, the extent of this reduction reached 2.5 and 3.4 μg/m³ respectively. However, due to an increase in industrial production and population size, the PM_2.5 from industrial point sources and area sources also increased between 2006 and 2015 in some of the cities. Investigation of the source apportionment for city centers yielded similar results. In addition to emissions within the PRD region, outside-PRD non-local contribution is still an important PM_2.5 contributor. Hence, more stringent policies for controlling industrial and area sources and deepening province-to-province cooperation are urgently needed as the next step in PM_2.5 control.

Keywords: Anthropogenic source; Control efficacy; PM(2.5); Source apportionment; WRF-CAMx.