Primary Pollutants and Air Quality Analysis for Urban Air in China: Evidence from Shanghai

Yan Yan,Li Li,Sun Sun,Wu Wu

doi:10.3390/su11082319

Abstract

In recent years, China's urban air pollution has caused widespread concern in the academic world. As one of China's economic and financial centers and one of the most densely populated cities, Shanghai ranks among the top in China in terms of per capita energy consumption per unit area. Based on the Shanghai Energy Statistical Yearbook and Shanghai Air Pollution Statistics, we have systematically analyzed Shanghai’s atmospheric pollutants from three aspects: Primary pollutants, pollutants changing trends, and fine particulate matter. The comprehensive pollution index analysis method, the grey correlation analysis method, and the Euclid approach degree method are used to evaluate and analyze the air quality in Shanghai. The results have shown that Shanghai's primary pollutants are PM2.5 and O3, and the most serious air pollution happens during the first half of the year, particularly in the winter. This is because it is the peak period of industrial energy use, and residential heating will also lead to an increase in energy consumption. Furthermore, by studying the particulate pollutants of PM2.5 and PM10, we clearly disclosed the linear correlation between PM2.5 and PM10 concentrations in Shanghai which varies seasonally.

Highlights

In recent years, with China’s rapid economic development, consumption of fossil energy has grown rapidly, and its air quality, especially in cities, has deteriorated drastically, causing a significant negative impact on people’s health as well as climate change [1,2,3,4]
The results showed that wood combustion had made high contributions to the organic carbon (OC), and in some rural areas, the contribution rate of wood combustion to OC could be as high as 90% in winters; the contribution of terrestrial protozoa organic components was significant in summers and autumns, with a monthly PM2.5 contribution rate of 4.5–9.5% [27]
This paper has evaluated the quarterly air quality of Shanghai by using the Comprehensive Pollution Index Method, the Improved Grey Relational Degree Method, and the Euclid Approach Degree Method and based on the technical norms of China’s current Air Quality Index (AQI) and analysis of Shanghai’s overall climate

Summary

Introduction

With China’s rapid economic development, consumption of fossil energy has grown rapidly, and its air quality, especially in cities, has deteriorated drastically, causing a significant negative impact on people’s health as well as climate change [1,2,3,4]. It has been realized that the scope and severity of urban air pollution are affected by the nature of air pollutants and pollution sources [5], weather conditions [6,7,8], as well as properties of the land surface [9,10,11]. These factors are influenced by natural factors (such as air pressure [12], temperature [13], wind direction and speed [14], etc.), but human factors (such as industrial waste gas emissions [15], domestic coal combustion [16,17], automobile exhaust emissions [18], etc.) have a greater impact on the urban air quality. The current industrial structure with high consumption and low output has further resulted in the deterioration of air quality

Methods

Results

Discussion

Conclusion