Historical industrial emissions of non-methane volatile organic compounds in China for the period of 1980–2010

Abstract

This paper presents a new classification of industrial sector on basis of a source-tracing method for the historical industrial emissions of non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs). The industrial sources were divided into four major source categories: production of NMVOCs, storage and transport, industrial processes using NMVOCs as raw materials, and processes using NMVOCs-containing products. Multiyear emission inventories of NMVOCs from industrial sources were established for the period of 1980–2010 in China, covering 98 contributing industrial sources. The inventories were developed by the emission factor method, and further gridded at a spatial resolution of 50 km × 50 km based on GIS methodology, using population data as spatial surrogate. The result showed that China's industrial NMVOCs emissions had increased by 11.6 times at an average annual rate of 8.5% from 1.15 Tg in 1980 to 13.35 Tg in 2010. The four major source categories generated 19.6% (2.63 Tg, production of NMVOCs), 9.6% (1.295 Tg, storage and transport), 13.2% (1.769 Tg, industrial processes using NMVOCs as raw materials), and 57.4% (7.662 Tg, processes using NMVOCs-containing products) of the total emissions from China in 2010. Moreover, the top four industrial emissions sources were oil refinery, architectural decoration, machinery equipment and printing, accounted for 48.3% all together. With respect to the spatial distribution, the emissions mostly occurred in the eastern, northern and southern parts of China, all being much higher than that in the western part. The top four emission provinces were Shandong, Jiangsu, Guangdong, and Zhejiang, accounting for 38.3% of the national emissions. As for the past 30 years, the national industrial NMVOCs emissions increased year-by-year, being in pace with the accelerated industrialization process and the sharp economic growth, especially the rapid expansion of the high-emission industries. Particularly, the oil refinery, product oil and solvent distribution, architectural decoration, and mechanical equipment manufacture became the four largest contributors, accounting for 15.9–34.3%, 6.5–10.2%, 7–8%, and 6–7% of national industrial NMVOCs.