The characteristics of PM2.5 in Beijing, China

He, Kebin; Yang, Fumo; Ma, Yue; Zhang, Qiang; Yao, Xiaohong; Chan, Chak Keung; Cadle, Steven H.; Chan, Tai L.; Mulawa, Patricia A.

doi:10.1016/s1352-2310(01)00301-6

Cited by 1,028 publications

(645 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…The observed annual average PM 2.5 mass concentration was 176 ± 34 g/m 3 ; this is more than five times the Chinese annual PM 2.5 standard (35 g/m 3 ). The loadings of OC and EC were 29 ± 9.7 and 6.4 ± 1.8 g/m 3 , respectively, and these concentrations are comparable with the results of previous studies conducted in Beijing (Feng et al, 2006;He et al, 2001). OC and EC showed, in Fig.…”

Section: Concentrationssupporting

confidence: 89%

Molecular distribution and seasonal variation of hydrocarbons in PM2.5 from Beijing during 2006

Cao

et al. 2013

Particuology

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a b s t r a c tNormal (n)-alkanes and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in PM 2.5 were collected from Beijing in 2006 and analyzed using a thermal desorption-GC/MS technique. Annual average concentrations of n-alkanes and PAHs were 282 ± 96 and 125 ± 150 ng/m 3 , respectively: both were highest in winter and lowest in summer. C 19 -C 25 compounds dominated the n-alkanes while benzo[b]fluoranthene, benzo[e]pyrene, and phenanthrene were the most abundant PAHs. The n-alkanes exhibited moderate correlations with organic carbon (OC) and elemental carbon (EC) throughout the year, but the relationships between the PAHs, OC and EC differed between the heating and non-heating seasons. The health risks associated with PAHs in winter were more than 40 times those in spring and summer even though the PM 2.5 loadings were comparable. Carbon preference index values (<1.5) indicated that the n-alkanes were mostly from fossil fuel combustion. The ratios of indeno [123-cd]pyrene to benzo[ghi]pyrelene in summer and spring were 0.58 ± 0.12 and 0.63 ± 0.09, respectively, suggesting that the PAHs mainly originated from motor vehicles, but higher ratios in winter reflected an increased influence from coal, which is extensively burned for domestic heating. A comprehensive comparison showed that PAH pollution in Beijing has decreased in the past 10 years.

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Section: Concentrationssupporting

confidence: 89%

Molecular distribution and seasonal variation of hydrocarbons in PM2.5 from Beijing during 2006

Cao

et al. 2013

Particuology

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“…The reported measurements show that a very high percentage of the carbon in the particle emissions from these sources is in the form of EC (Watson et al, 1998;Ge et al, 2001;Park et al, 2001). This is consistent with the very high EC concentration measured in the atmosphere in China and other Asian countries (He et al, 2001), where significant primary emissions of particulate matter from coal and residual oil combustion exist. In many locations in the United States, there exist very small primary emissions from coal and residual oil combustion due to minimal use of these fuels or effective control strategies on their emissions.…”

Section: Atmospheric Sources Of Elemental Carbonsupporting

confidence: 89%

Evaluation of elemental carbon as a marker for diesel particulate matter

Schauer

2003

J Expo Sci Environ Epidemiol

219

123

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Elemental carbon (EC) in atmospheric particulate matter originates from a broad range of sources in many urban locations. As health and air quality studies are using elemental carbon measurements to better understand the impact of diesel engines and other combustion sources, there is a great need to clearly understand the relative source contributions to EC concentrations in the atmosphere. However, the different analytical techniques currently used to measure EC do not show good agreement for many particulate matter samples. To this end, studies that use EC as a tracer and integrate different analytical techniques for EC can significantly bias estimates of source contributions to atmospheric particulate matter. In addition, source attribution studies that do not properly address all sources of EC in the atmosphere can also lead to inaccuracies and biases. To better understand the use of EC as a tracer, a review of the distribution of EC in the primary particulate matter emissions from air pollution sources using different analytical methods is discussed. A review of previous apportionment studies of particulate matter is presented to elucidate the fraction of EC that results from emissions from diesel engines in urban locations. These results demonstrate that EC is not a unique tracer for diesel exhaust and efforts to utilize EC as an indicator of diesel exhaust must properly address other sources of EC as well as utilize a consistent measurement technique for EC when comparing source and ambient EC measurements to avoid significant biases.

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“…PM 2.5 has long been associated with adverse health impacts such as respiratory disease and increased mortality (Gens et al, 2014;Hagerman et al, 2014;Lin et al, 2014). Recent interest has focused on the chemical species, transformation and sources (Cao et al, 2003;Chan and Yao, 2008;He et al, 2001;Tan et al, 2009aTan et al, , 2009bTang et al, 2006;Yang et al, 2011b) of PM 2.5 since it is both an air pollutant and also has climatic implications; moreover, the mechanisms of formation, evolution, as well as their quantification, are complex (Duan et al, 2007;Liu et al, 2008;Querol et al, 2008;Sun et al, 2006;Wang et al, 2002;Yang et al, 2011a).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%