Spatial Characteristics and Factor Analysis of Pollution Emission from Heavy-Duty Diesel Trucks in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region, China.

Beibei Zhang,Shifen Cheng,Sheng Wu,Feng Lu,Peng Peng

doi:10.3390/ijerph16244973

Abstract

Heavy-duty diesel trucks (HDDTs) contribute significantly to NOX and particulate matter (PM) pollution. Although existing studies have emphasized that HDDTs play a dominant role in vehicular pollution, the spatial distribution pattern of HDDT emissions and their related socioeconomic factors are unclear. To fill this research gap, this study investigates the spatial distribution pattern and spatial autocorrelation characteristics of NOX, PM, and SO2 emissions from HDDTs in 200 districts and counties of the Beijing–Tianjin–Hebei (BTH) region. We used the spatial lag model to calculate the significances and directions of the pollutants from HDDTs and their related socioeconomic factors, namely, per capita GDP, population density, urbanization rate, and proportions of secondary and tertiary industries. Then, the geographical detector technique was applied to quantify the strengths of the significant socioeconomic factors of HDDT emissions. The results show that (1) NOX, PM, and SO2 pollutants emitted by HDDTs in the BTH region have spatial heterogeneity, i.e., low in the north and high in the east and south. (2) The pollutants from HDDTs in the BTH region have significant spatial autocorrelation characteristics. The spatial dependence effect was obvious; for every 1% increase in the HDDT emissions in the surrounding districts and counties, the local HDDT emissions increased by 0.39%. (3) Related factors analysis showed that the proportion of tertiary industries had a significant negative correlation, whereas the proportion of secondary industries and urbanization rate had significant positive correlations with HDDT emissions. Population density and per capita GDP did not pass the significance test. (4) The order of effect intensities of the significant socioeconomic factors was proportion of tertiary industry > proportion of secondary industry > urbanization rate. This study guides scientific decision making for pollution control of HDDTs in the BTH region.

Highlights

The annual increase in the number of vehicles in China has enhanced the severity of environmental pollution caused by vehicle exhaust [1,2,3,4,5]
Based on the above background, in order to solve the problem of unclear spatial characteristics of pollutants and unclear mechanisms of the related influencing factors of heavy-duty diesel trucks (HDDTs) in the BTH region, this study explored the spatial distribution pattern and spatial autocorrelation characteristics of pollutants from HDDTs in 200 districts and counties in the BTH region
Heavy-duty diesel trucks are the main contributors of NOX and particulate matter (PM) and have become the primary source of vehicle emissions resulting in haze

Summary

Introduction

The annual increase in the number of vehicles in China has enhanced the severity of environmental pollution caused by vehicle exhaust [1,2,3,4,5]. Motor vehicle emissions have become major sources of air pollution in megacities in China [6] such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou. Among different categories of vehicles, heavy-duty diesel trucks (HDDTs) have attracted widespread attention because of their significant contribution to NOX and particulate matter (PM) pollution [5,7,8,9,10,11]. The annual report for 2018 by China’s Motor Vehicle Environmental Management [12] shows that HDDTs were. Res. Public Health 2019, 16, 4973; doi:10.3390/ijerph16244973 www.mdpi.com/journal/ijerph

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