NOx Control Research Articles

Spatial and Temporal Variations in Ozone Pollution and Sensitivity Characteristics in Hainan Island

Based on ambient air quality data, meteorological observation data, and satellite remote sensing data, the temporal and spatial variations in ozone (O3) pollution, the sensitivity of O3, and its relationship with meteorological factors in Hainan Island were analyzed in this study. The results showed that the maximum daily 8-h moving mean (O3-8h) in western and northern cities in Hainan Island was higher than that in the central, eastern, and southern cities. O3-8h was the highest in 2015, and O3-8h exceeding the standard proportion was the largest in 2019. In addition, O3-8h was positively correlated with average temperature (P<0.1), sunshine duration (P<0.01), total solar radiation (P<0.01), atmospheric pressure, and average wind speed and was negatively correlated with precipitation (P<0.05) and relative humidity. The satellite remote sensing data showed that the tropospheric NO2 column concentration (NO2-OMI) and HCHO column concentration (HCHO-OMI) displayed opposite trends in Hainan Island from 2015 to 2020. Compared with those in 2015, NO2-OMI increased by 7.74% and HCHO-OMI decreased by 10.2% in 2020. Moreover, Hainan Island belongs to the NOx control area, and the FNR value exhibited a fluctuating downward trend in the past 6 years, with a trend coefficient and climatic trend rate of -0.514 and -0.123 a-1, respectively. A strong correlation was observed between meteorological factors and the FNR value of Hainan Island.

Model-based closed-loop control strategies for flex-fuel capability

Meeting future limits for greenhouse gas (GHG) and pollutant emissions represents major challenges for the further development of internal combustion engines for light and heavy-duty applications. To comply with increasingly higher standards, the use of renewable fuels is an important option due to their great potential in terms of energy density, sustainability and low-pollution combustion. However, the increased fuel diversity associated with their use increases the complexity of the powertrain development and calibration process, resulting in an increase in development time and cost. To address these challenges, advanced model-based closed-loop control strategies are applied to optimize the fuel- and air-path settings and make best use of the properties of the different fuels. One such approach is Combustion Rate Shaping (CRS). This ensures a closed-loop control of combustion parameters such as the indicated mean effective pressure, the center of heat release, and the combustion noise excitation. In addition, a model-based closed-loop NOx control could simplify the control on the air-path side. Such a closed-loop approach can further be combined with an onboard fuel detection algorithm and learning functionalities that eventually allow switching to optimal setpoints based on the fuel properties. This publication presents an evaluation of CRS as control concept with flex-fuel operation. The control strategy is implemented on a demonstrator vehicle built up with a Rapid Control Prototyping (RCP) system. The results of emission test cycles with conventional diesel fuel and later with a blend with 1- Octanol, OME3–5 and a paraffinic renewable diesel fuel are presented to illustrate the potential of the novel control concept. The developed CRS concept shows a reduced combustion parameters and emissions dispersion. In particular, the results with OME3–5 blend shows up to 40% reduction in NOx emissions and up to 1 dB(A) lower average combustion noise in comparison to conventional open-loop control. Moreover, an onboard fuel detection and an adaptive control functionality are proposed and experimental validations are carried out to demonstrate the potential to optimize engine emissions.

Anti-Poisoning Mechanisms of Sb on Vanadia-Based Catalysts for NOx and Chlorobenzene Multi-Pollutant Control.

Modulating vanadia-based metal oxides is one of the effective methods for designing difunctional catalysts for simultaneous control of NOx and chlorobenzene (CB) from the emissions of industrial sources. Excessive NH3 adsorption and polychlorinated species accumulation on the surface are the primary issues poisoning catalysts and reducing their lifetime. Herein, Sb is selected as an NH3 adsorption alleviator and polychlorinated species preventor dopant on V2O5-WO3/TiO2. The catalyst exhibits an excellent performance for total NOx and 90% CB conversions at 300-400 °C under a gas hourly space velocity (GHSV) of 60,000 mL g-1 h-1. The HCl and N2 selectivities are maintained at 90 and 98%, respectively. The anti-poisoning ability could be attributed to the generated V-O-Sb chains on the surface: the band gap of vanadium is narrowed and the electron capability is strengthened. The above variation weakens the Lewis acid sites and blocks the electrophilic chlorination reactions of the catalyst surface (formation of polychlorinated species). In addition, oxygen vacancies on Sb-O-Ti also increase: the ring opening of benzoates is accelerated and NH3 adsorption energy is weakened. The above variation lowers the energy barriers of C-Cl cleavage even under NH3 pre-adsorption models and enhances NOx reduction thermodynamically and kinetically.

Characteristics of VOCs and Assessment of Emission Reduction Effect During the Epidemic Lockdown Period in Shenzhen Urban Area

To prevent disease spreading during the COVID-19 epidemic, Shenzhen adopted lockdown measures in March of 2022. This provided an opportunity to study the response of changes in anthropogenic volatile organic compounds (AVOCs) in Shenzhen to emission reduction and to evaluate the effectiveness of current emission reduction measures. This study analyzed the variety of AVOCs before, during, and after the epidemic lockdown based on the online observation data of pollutants at Lianhua Station in Shenzhen from March 7, 2022 to March 27, 2022. Additionally, the sensitivity of ozone formation and the assessment of the reduction effect of precursors was conducted by an observation based model(OBM). The results showed that:affected by regional influences and the interference of meteorological conditions, the average value of AVOCs in Shenzhen urban areas did not drop significantly during the lockdown period compared to that before the lockdown. However, the peak of AVOCs at the morning peak time under the influence of "sea and land wind" during the epidemic lockdown period dropped by 46% on average compared with that during the non-lockdown period, and the aromatic hydrocarbon component dropped the most by 59%. Additionally, under the influence of continuous easterly wind, or during the accumulation and increase of AVOCs affected by regional transmission, aromatic components also decreased by an average of 25% and 21%, respectively. During the lockdown period of the epidemic in Shenzhen, the O3 formation in urban areas was still AVOCs-limited. Increasing the emission reduction ratio of AVOCs was the most effective measure to reduce O3 in the short term. In order to ensure the effectiveness of emission reduction, it was recommended that the coordinated emission reduction ratio of AVOCs and NOx should be greater than 1:2. It was only possible to enter the downward channel of O3 if the deep emission reduction was more than 60%. This study revealed that the emission reduction of AVOCs during the morning traffic peak during the epidemic lockdown period was conducive to inhibiting the formation of O3, whereas the control of NOx would promote it. Strengthening the control of local aromatic hydrocarbon components during the regional impact process could also significantly reduce O3 production. At this stage, Shenzhen should strengthen the management and control of industrial solvents, especially to reduce the aromatic hydrocarbon components in the solvent source that have a greater impact on the generation of O3. Further, Shenzhen should continue to promote the reform of the energy structure of motor vehicles to reduce the emission of VOCs in fuel combustion.

Location-Specific Control of Precursor Emissions to Mitigate Photochemical Air Pollution.

The effects of precursor emission controls on air quality can vary greatly depending on where emission reductions occur. We use the adjoint of the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model to evaluate impacts of spatially targeted NOx emission reductions on odd oxygen (Ox = O3 + NO2). The air quality responses studied here include one population-weighted regionwide and three city-level receptors in Central California. We map high-priority locations for NOx control and their changes over decadal time scales. The desirability of NOx-focused emission control programs has increased between 2000 and 2022. We find for present-day conditions that reducing NOx emissions by 28% from targeted high-priority locations can achieve 60% of the air quality benefits of uniform NOx reductions at all locations. High-priority source locations are found to differ for individual city-level versus regionwide receptors of interest. While high-impact emission hotspots for improving city-level metrics are found within the city itself or closely adjacent, the spatial pattern of emission hotspots for improving regionwide air quality is more complex and requires comprehensive consideration of upwind sources. Results of this study can help to inform strategic decision-making at local and regional levels about where to prioritize emission control efforts.

The impact of Miller cycle in combination to exhaust gas recirculation and post-injection on controlling diesel engine NOx

ABSTRACT To meet the requirements of increasing stringent emission regulations, innovative solutions are adopted to reduce NOx emissions from diesel engines. In this study, the GT-Power software was utilized to investigate NOx control possibility of Miller cycle in combination with exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and post-injection in a diesel engine. The results indicate early intake valve closing reduced compression work, resulting in a power increase of 0.3 kW. Furthermore, the cooling effect of Miller cycle lowered maximum temperature by 24.5 K and NOx emissions by 17.4%. Miller cycle and EGR combination was able to lower NOx emissions by 83.7%, although it resulted in higher Soot emissions. Adding post-injection help to mitigate this issue, lowering NOx emissions by over 20% and Soot emissions by 5.8%. Finally, the combination of MD75 + 12% EGR +2.5 mg post-injection mass at 34°CA ATDC achieved a 76.1% reduction in NOx emissions with only a 2.6% impact on brake power using modeFRONTIER for multi-objective optimization.

Hydroxyl Radical-Mediated Efficient Photoelectrocatalytic NO Oxidation with Simultaneous Nitrate Storage Using A Flow Photoanode Reactor.

The selective conversion of dilute NO pollutant into low-toxic product and simultaneous storage of metabolic nitrogen for crop plants remains a great challenge from the perspective of waste management and sustainable chemistry. This study demonstrates that this bottleneck can be well tackled by refining the reactive oxygen species (ROS) on Ni-modified NH2 -UiO-66(Zr) (Ni@NU) using nickel foam (NF) as a three-dimensional (3D) substrate through a flow photoanode reactor via the gas-phase photoelectrocatalysis. By rationally refining the ROS to ⋅OH, Ni@NU/NF can rapidly eliminate 82 % of NO without releasing remarkable NO2 under a low bias voltage (0.3 V) and visible light irradiation. The abundant mesoporous pores on Ni@NU/NF are conducive to the diffusion and storage of the formed nitrate, which enables the progressive conversion NO into nitrate with selectivity over 99 % for long-term use. Through calculation, 90 % of NO could be recovered as the nitrate species, indicating that this state-of-the-art strategy can capture, enrich and recycle the pollutant N source from the atmosphere. This study offers a new perspective of NO pollutant treatment and sustainable nitrogen exploitation, which may possess great potential to the development of highly efficient air purification systems for industrial and indoor NOx control.

Hydroxyl Radical‐Mediated Efficient Photoelectrocatalytic NO Oxidation with Simultaneous Nitrate Storage Using A Flow Photoanode Reactor

AbstractThe selective conversion of dilute NO pollutant into low‐toxic product and simultaneous storage of metabolic nitrogen for crop plants remains a great challenge from the perspective of waste management and sustainable chemistry. This study demonstrates that this bottleneck can be well tackled by refining the reactive oxygen species (ROS) on Ni‐modified NH2‐UiO‐66(Zr) (Ni@NU) using nickel foam (NF) as a three‐dimensional (3D) substrate through a flow photoanode reactor via the gas‐phase photoelectrocatalysis. By rationally refining the ROS to ⋅OH, Ni@NU/NF can rapidly eliminate 82 % of NO without releasing remarkable NO2 under a low bias voltage (0.3 V) and visible light irradiation. The abundant mesoporous pores on Ni@NU/NF are conducive to the diffusion and storage of the formed nitrate, which enables the progressive conversion NO into nitrate with selectivity over 99 % for long‐term use. Through calculation, 90 % of NO could be recovered as the nitrate species, indicating that this state‐of‐the‐art strategy can capture, enrich and recycle the pollutant N source from the atmosphere. This study offers a new perspective of NO pollutant treatment and sustainable nitrogen exploitation, which may possess great potential to the development of highly efficient air purification systems for industrial and indoor NOx control.

Experimental study on NOx emission characteristics under oxy-fuel combustion

Abstract This study focuses on the emission characteristics of NOx under oxy-fuel combustion conditions. A comparative analysis with air combustion was performed. NOx emission, control measures and influence factors under different working conditions were studied. Experiments were carried out on a 3-MWth test platform and a laboratory platform. The ‘π’-type furnace was adopted, with the furnace width of 2.6 m, depth of 2.0 m and height of 10.5 m for the 3-MWth coal-fired boiler. NOx emissions at different oxygen concentrations and different air distribution were investigated; the effects of H2O and CO2 concentration on denitrification efficiency and SO2/SO3 conversion rate were explored. Experiment results suggest that, compared with air combustion, NO concentration (volume basis) at the furnace outlet under oxy-fuel combustion is higher than that of air combustion, but the amount of NOx emissions in the discharged gas significantly decrease compared to the air combustion conditions. In addition, the formation of NOx can be effectively controlled through staged combustion. Furthermore, the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) denitrification efficiency and the conversion rate of SO2 to SO3 decreases when the CO2 concentration and the H2O content increase, indicating that CO2 and H2O have an adverse effect on the performance of the catalyst. Additionally, compared with CO2 concentration, H2O content has a greater effect on catalyst performance.

Effect of ammonia on the characteristics of coal combustion

Ammonia is a kind of zero-carbon fuel with mature technology and low storage and transportation cost. Partial replacement of coal with ammonia can become an effective way to reduce carbon at the front end of coal-fired units under the dual carbon target. In this paper, zero-carbon ammonia fuel is studied as an alternative fuel. The fuel characteristics of ammonia and its mixed fuel with typical bituminous coal are studied by using one-dimensional flame furnace and ignition furnace. The ignition performance changes of ammonia/coal mixed fuel, the enhanced combustion and pollutant control technology of different proportions of ammonia/coal mixed fuel are studied and analyzed in detail. It is found that the pre-mixed combustion of ammonia/coal is not conducive to NOx control. Through the classification of ammonia/coal fuel, the control of excess air coefficient or oxygen content, supplemented by air-staged combustion, 25% or even higher proportion of ammonia blending can achieve lower NOx concentration and better combustion effect than raw coal. Partial replacement of coal with ammonia can reduce slagging and improve the safety of actual combustion process.

Polymerization State of Vanadyl Species Affects the Catalytic Activity and Arsenic Resistance of the V2O5-WO3/TiO2 Catalyst in Multipollutant Control of NOx and Chlorinated Aromatics.

The conventional V2O5-WO3/TiO2 catalyst suffers severely from arsenic poisoning, leading to a significant loss of catalytic activity. The doping of Al or Mo plays an important role in promoting the arsenic resistance on NH3 selective catalytic reduction (NH3-SCR), but their promotion mechanism remains in debate and has yet to be explored in multipollutant control (MPC) of NOx and chlorinated organics. Herein, our experimental characterizations and density functional theory (DFT) calculations confirmed that arsenic species preferentially adsorb on both Al and Mo to form arsenate, thereby avoiding bonding to the catalytically active V sites. More importantly, Al doping partially converted the polymeric vanadyl species into monomeric ones, thereby inhibiting the near-surface and bulk lattice oxygen mobility of the V2O5-WO3/TiO2 catalyst, while Mo doping resulted in vanadyl polymerization with an enriched V5+ chemical state and exhibited superior MPC activity and COx selectivity. Our work shows that antipoisoning catalysts can be designed with the combination of site protection and occurrence state modification of the active species.

Experimental investigation of circulating fluidized bed combustion of dry powders of coal slime

Effective combustion of coal slime in circulating fluidized bed (CFB) boilers is essential for the sustainable development of clean coal technology. To overcome issues related to burning wet coal slime in CFBs, we propose to dry coal slime in a low-temperature drying system and burn the dried fine powders in a CFB with a highly efficient separator. This study reports a series of experiments conducted in a 4MWth pilot-scale CFB combustion test facility to assess the feasibility. The results demonstrate that the dried slime particles, which have a particle size distribution similar to that of circulating ash particles, can be burned stably, efficiently, and cleanly. The combustion of fuels with size distributions similar to that of circulating ash particles increases solids circulation rates, betters solids concentration distribution, enhances heat transfer combustion and improves operation and SO2 and NOx controls. Therefore, the study presents a potential opportunity to advance CFB combustion technology.

To be support or promoter: the mode of introducing ceria into commercial V2O5/TiO2 catalyst for enhanced Hg0 oxidation

Ce-modified commercial vanadium-based catalysts are still in a rapid development stage in terms of optimizing Hg0 oxidation performance. Due to the universal property of ceria, it can act as either support or promoter to supported vanadium-based catalysts. However, the introduction mode of Ce on the Hg0 oxidation is still unclarified. Herein, introducing Ce to vanadium-based catalysts as a promoter (VCe/Ti) plays a more effective role in the Hg0 oxidation than only doping Ce into TiO2 support (V/CeTi). It is revealed that the strong interaction between V and Ce increases the orbital hybridization, and reduces the lowest unoccupied molecular orbital (LUMO) of V, which is conducive to adsorbing and activating HCl. The excellent performance of the VCe/Ti catalyst can be ascribed to its superior redox ability, stronger HCl adsorption capacity, abundant surface oxygen vacancies, and the redox equilibrium (Ce3+ + V5+ ↔ Ce4+ + V4+), which improves electron transfer, and thus the catalytic activity. This work provides the potential application of Ce-modified V-based catalysts for the simultaneous control of NOx and Hg0 in stationary sources.

Spatiotemporal characteristics of ozone and the formation sensitivity over the Fenwei Plain

High surface ozone (O3) levels affect human and environmental health. The Fenwei Plain (FWP), one of the critical regions for China's “Blue Sky Protection Campaign”, has reported severe O3 pollution. This study investigates the spatiotemporal properties and the causes of O3 pollution over the FWP using high-resolution data from the TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) from 2019 to 2021. This study characterizes spatial and temporal variations in O3 concentration by linking O3 columns and surface monitoring using a trained deep forest machine learning model. O3 concentrations in summer were 2–3 times higher than those found in winter due to higher temperatures and greater solar irradiation. The spatial distributions of O3 correlate with the solar radiation showing decreased trends from the northeastern to the southwestern FWP, with the highest O3 values in Shanxi Province and the lowest in Shaanxi Province. For urban areas, croplands and grasslands, the O3 photochemistry in summer is NOx-limited or in the transitional regime, while it is VOC-limited in winter and other seasons. Reducing NOx emissions would be effective for decreasing O3 levels in summer, while VOC reductions are necessary for winter. The annual cycle in vegetated areas included both NOx-limited and transitional regimes, indicating the importance of NOx controls to protect ecosystems. The O3 response to limiting precursors shown here is of importance for optimizing control strategies and is illustrated by emission changes during the 2020 COVID-19 outbreak.

Sources of Organic Aerosol in China from 2005 to 2019: A Modeling Analysis.

Organic aerosol (OA) is a key component of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and affects the human health and leads to climate change. With strict control measures for air pollutants during the last decade, the OA concentration in China declined slowly, while its sources remain unclear. In this study, we simulate the primary OA (POA) and secondary OA (SOA) concentrations from 2005 to 2019 with a state-of-the-art air quality model, Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ, version 5.3.2) coupled with a Two-Dimensional Volatility Basis Set (2D-VBS) module, and a long-term emission inventory of full-volatility organic compounds in China and conduct source apportionment and sensitivity analysis. The simulation results show that, from 2005 to 2019, the OA concentration in China decreased from 24.0 to 12.8 μg/m3 with most of the reduction from POA. The OA pollution from residential biomass burning declined 75% from 2005 to 2019, while it is still the major OA source in China. OA pollution from VCP increased by more than 2-fold and became the largest SOA source in China. From 2014 to 2019, the NOx control in China slightly offset the decrease of SOA concentration due to elevated oxidation capacity.

Prediction of SO2 and NOx in sintering flue gas based on PSO-BP neural network model

ABSTRACT In the long process of iron and steel, the sintering process has the largest amount of flue gas emissions, many types of pollutants and high concentrations. The source control of SO2 and NOx in sintering flue gas through digital technology has become a new emission reduction technology. In this study, the BP neural network model (BP-NN) is optimized by using the particle swarm algorithm (PSO) to form the PSO-BPNN model, which effectively improves the characteristics of BP-NN with slow convergence speed and easily falls into local minima, and improves the learning ability and generalization. The test results show that the PSO-BP-NN algorithm not only has fast convergence speed and high prediction accuracy, but also has smaller training and inspection errors. In addition, this model combines process theory and feature engineering selection of parameters, which effectively improves the accuracy of the model and the interpretability of the results based on the linkage of process knowledge, and has certain analytical significance for the source management and post-treatment of sintered flue gas.

Trends of source apportioned PM2.5 in Tianjin over 2013–2019: Impacts of Clean Air Actions

A long-term (2013–2019) PM2.5 speciation dataset measured in Tianjin, the largest industrial city in northern China, was analyzed with dispersion normalized positive matrix factorization (DN-PMF). The trends of source apportioned PM2.5 were used to assess the effectiveness of source-specific control policies and measures in support of the two China's Clean Air Actions implemented nationwide in 2013–2017 and 2018–2020, respectively. Eight sources were resolved from the DN-PMF analysis: coal combustion (CC), biomass burning (BB), vehicular emissions, dust, steelmaking and galvanizing emissions, a mixed sulfate-rich factor and secondary nitrate. After adjustment for meteorological fluctuations, a substantial improvement in PM2.5 air quality was observed in Tianjin with decreases in PM2.5 at an annual rate of 6.6%/y. PM2.5 from CC decreased by 4.1%/y. The reductions in SO2 concentration, PM2.5 contributed by CC, and sulfate demonstrated the improved control of CC-related emissions and fuel quality. Policies aimed at eliminating winter-heating pollution have had substantial success as shown by reduced heating-related SO2, CC, and sulfate from 2013 to 2019. The two industrial source types showed sharp drops after the 2013 mandated controls went into effect to phaseout outdated iron/steel production and enforce tighter emission standards for these industries. BB reduced significantly by 2016 and remained low due to the no open field burning policy. Vehicular emissions and road/soil dust declined over the Action's first phase followed by positive upward trends, showing that further emission controls are needed. Nitrate concentrations remained constant although NOX emissions dropped significantly. The lack of a decrease in nitrate may result from increased ammonia emissions from enhanced vehicular NOX controls. The port and shipping emissions were evident implying their impacts on coastal air quality. These results affirm the effectiveness of the Clean Air Actions in reducing primary anthropogenic emissions. However, further emission reductions are needed to meet global health-based air quality standards.

Process design and optimization of onsite hydrogen production from ammonia: Reactor design, energy saving and NOX control

Ammonia is an important commodity for both direct and indirect applications. It can be used directly as a carbon-free fuel source as well as for the purpose of renewable hydrogen storage and transport. In this study, hydrogen production from ammonia decomposition in a multi catalytic packed bed reactor with an intermediate heating system is reported using Aspen Plus V.12. The process simulation model results have been validated through experimental data for commercially available Ru/Al2O3 catalyst and Temkin-Phyzev reaction kinetics. The results exhibit that ammonia decomposition is a highly endothermic reaction, therefore requires significant heat energy. The decomposition parameters such as temperature and pressure are optimized for large-scale ammonia decomposition. For the ammonia combustion, thermal efficiency, fuel-saving, and product yield are analyzed and optimum values are found to be 59%, 22% and 77% for each parameter, respectively. During the pure ammonia combustion, NOX emissions are a major issue. To monitor the NOX emissions, parameters such as equivalence ratio, temperature and pressure are analyzed to witness the optimum operating conditions. To improve the flame quality such as laminar velocity, minimum ignition temperature, and adiabatic flame temperature of the ammonia combustion, waste hydrogen stream from the pressure swing adsorption (PSA) unit is blended with the fuel ammonia. The blending of hydrogen with fuel ammonia resulted in higher NOX emissions, which can be reduced by recirculation of 30% of the flue gas with air–fuel stream.

How much urban air quality is affected by local emissions: A unique case study from a megacity in the Pearl River Delta, China

In March 2022, the resurgence of COVID-19 cases in Shenzhen, a megacity in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region of China, led to unusual restrictions on anthropogenic activities within a single city, in contrast to the restrictions COVID-19 caused on a national scale at the beginning of 2020. In this unique event, we found that only under unfavorable meteorological conditions did substantial urban local emission reductions have an impact on air pollutant changes (−42.4%–6.6%), whereas the deweathered changes were very small (−8.3%–3.4%) under favorable meteorological conditions. Primary anthropogenic pollutants, such as NO2, toluene, BC, and primary organic aerosol (POA), responded most considerably to emission reductions from early morning to noon during unfavorable meteorological days; for secondary organic aerosol (SOA), regulating the daytime total oxidant (Ox = O3 + NO2) was found to be more effective than controlling its precursors within the city scale, whereas secondary nitrate displayed the opposite trend. Since Ox changed little during the urban lockdown despite the remarkable decrease in precursors, it is emphasized that regionally coordinated control of VOCs and NOx is necessary to effectively reduce Ox levels. In addition, Shenzhen's NOx emission reduction efforts should be sustained in order to control PM2.5 and O3 pollution synergistically for long-term attainment.

Differences between VOCs and NOx transport contributions, their impacts on O3, and implications for O3 pollution mitigation based on CMAQ simulation over the Yangtze River Delta, China

The relationship between O3 and its precursors during urban polluted episodes remains unclear. In this study, the simultaneous source apportionment of VOCs, NOx, and O3 over the Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region during the O3 polluted episode on July 24–30, 2018, was performed based on the Integrated Source Apportionment Method (ISAM) embedded in the Community Multiscale Air Quality Modeling System (CMAQ). The results of the ISAM were compared with those of the Brute Force Method (BFM) and Positive Matrix Factorization (PMF). Furthermore, the differences between the transport contributions of VOCs and NOx, and their impacts on O3 were analyzed. The results indicate that observations of VOCs species can be well captured by simulated VOCs, and the ISAM has a significant advantage in the source apportionment of VOCs, especially for sources emitting highly reactive species. In the clean and polluted periods, the local contribution percentages of VOCs in urban sites ranged from 60 % to 77 %, much higher than those of NOx (31 %–43 %) and O3 (16 %–33 %). NOx and O3 have strong transport abilities with high and close contribution percentages, which are highly correlated, mainly because oxygen atoms produced by the photolysis of NO2 in the aged air mass combined rapidly with O2 to form O3 during transport. The VOCs chemical loss caused by the oxidation of OH radicals during transport makes the ability of VOCs for long-distance transport much weaker than that of NOx. Furthermore, owing to the sufficient aging of VOCs, those contributed by long-distance transport have little effect on O3. To a certain extent, controlling one's NOx emissions can help other cities more, while controlling one's VOCs emissions can help itself more. Therefore, it is recommended to attach enough importance to joint prevention and control of NOx among cities and even long-distance areas to alleviate regional O3 pollution.