Abstract
Abstract. An inventory of anthropogenic primary aerosol emissions in China was developed for 1990–2005 using a technology-based approach. Taking into account changes in the technology penetration within industry sectors and improvements in emission controls driven by stricter emission standards, a dynamic methodology was derived and implemented to estimate inter-annual emission factors. Emission factors of PM2.5 decreased by 7%–69% from 1990 to 2005 in different industry sectors of China, and emission factors of TSP decreased by 18%–80% as well, with the measures of controlling PM emissions implemented. As a result, emissions of PM2.5 and TSP in 2005 were 11.0 Tg and 29.7 Tg, respectively, less than what they would have been without the adoption of these measures. Emissions of PM2.5, PM10 and TSP presented similar trends: they increased in the first six years of 1990s and decreased until 2000, then increased again in the following years. Emissions of TSP peaked (35.5 Tg) in 1996, while the peak of PM10 (18.8 Tg) and PM2.5 (12.7 Tg) emissions occurred in 2005. Although various emission trends were identified across sectors, the cement industry and biofuel combustion in the residential sector were consistently the largest sources of PM2.5 emissions, accounting for 53%–62% of emissions over the study period. The non-metallic mineral product industry, including the cement, lime and brick industries, accounted for 54%–63% of national TSP emissions. There were no significant trends of BC and OC emissions until 2000, but the increase after 2000 brought the peaks of BC (1.51 Tg) and OC (3.19 Tg) emissions in 2005. Although significant improvements in the estimation of primary aerosols are presented here, there still exist large uncertainties. More accurate and detailed activity information and emission factors based on local tests are essential to further improve emission estimates, this especially being so for the brick and coke industries, as well as for coal-burning stoves and biofuel usage in the residential sector.
Highlights
Understanding China’s anthropogenic aerosol emission trends has considerable scientific importance due to the broad impact of aerosols on climate and air quality
In our previous study, using a technologybased approach, we presented the first comprehensive estimates of primary aerosol emissions in China for the year 2001 based on three particulate size fractions, e.g., total suspended particulate (TSP), PM10 and fine particulate matter less than 2.5 μm in diameter (PM2.5), and four major components, e.g., black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC), Ca and Mg. (Zhang et al, 2006, 2007b)
As the share of briquettes in coal consumption in residential coal stoves increased from 20% to 50%, average net emission factors (EFs) for BC and OC dropped by 34% and 10%, respectively
Summary
Understanding China’s anthropogenic aerosol emission trends has considerable scientific importance due to the broad impact of aerosols on climate and air quality. Atmospheric aerosol trends in China have been suggested as possible causes for many of the fundamental changes in regional climate that have been observed These include the decrease of surface temperature (Qian and Giorgi, 2000; Giorgi et al, 2002, 2003; Menon et al, 2002; Qian et al, 2003; Huang et al, 2006), changes in surface solar radiation trends (Kaiser and Qian, 2002; Che et al, 2005; Qian et al, 2006; Streets et al, 2006a, 2008, 2009; Xia et al, 2007), changes in cloud properties (Kawamoto et al, 2006; Qian et al, 2006), the reduction of precipitation Lei et al.: Primary anthropogenic aerosol emission trends al., 2007; Rosenfeld et al, 2007), increased summer floods in South China and drought in North China (Menon, et al, 2002), and even intensification of Pacific storm events (Zhang et al, 2007c)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Free) 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a call
