Compilation of a source profile database for hydrocarbon and OVOC emissions in China

Abstract

Source profiles are essential for quantifying the role of volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions in air pollution. This study compiled a database of VOC source profiles in China, with 75 species drawn from five major categories: transportation, solvent use, biomass burning, fossil fuel burning, and industrial processes. Source profiles were updated for diesel vehicles, biomass burning, and residential coal burning by measuring both hydrocarbons and oxygenated VOCs (OVOCs), while other source profiles were derived from the available literature. The OVOCs contributed 53.8% of total VOCs in the profiles of heavy - duty diesel vehicle exhaust and 12.4%–46.3% in biomass and residential coal burning, which indicated the importance of primary OVOCs emissions from combustion-related sources. Taking the national emission inventory from 2008 as an example, we established an approach for assigning source profiles to develop a speciation-specific VOC and OVOC emission inventory. The results showed that aromatics contributed 30% of the total 26 Tg VOCs, followed by alkanes (24%), alkenes (19%) and OVOCs (12%). Aromatics (7.9 Tg) were much higher than in previous results (1.1 Tg and 3.4 Tg), while OVOCs (3.1 Tg) were comparable with the 3.3 Tg and 4.3 Tg reported in studies using profiles from the US. The current emission inventories were built based on emission factors from non-methane hydrocarbon measurements, and therefore the proportions from OVOC emissions was neglected, leading to up to 30% underestimation of total VOC emissions. As a result, there is a need to deploy appropriate emission factors and source profiles that include OVOC measurements to reduce the uncertainty of estimated emissions and chemical reactivity potential.