Vehicle Emission Control Policies Research Articles

Direct measurement of brake and tire wear particles based on real-world driving conditions

With implementing vehicle emission control policies, tailpipe particulate emissions have been gradually controlled, and the relative contribution of non-tailpipe particulate emissions, such as brake and tire wear, has further increased. A unified and scientific method for sampling non-tailpipe particulate matter (PM) emissions is essential to improve the accuracy of the emission characteristics and factors. This study proposes a novel sampling method based on real-world driving conditions to obtain information on emissions and extract characteristic conditions for tire and brake pad wear. We extracted 200 representative braking segments for simulation experiments based on road type, initial and final velocities, temperature, and deceleration rate. Two standard test cycles to simulate the tire wear conditions of the front and rear wheels were constructed based on velocity, lateral, and vertical forces. Under the real-world driving condition test cycle, the emission factors of PM2.5 and PM10 for brake wear particles of passenger vehicles were 2.66 mg/km and 11.65 mg/km, respectively. In contrast, the emission factors of PM2.5 and PM10 for tire wear particles were 0.21 mg/km and 1.27 mg/km, respectively. Moreover, this study provides insights and basic data for localizing and improving the emission model, which can enhance its applicability and accuracy.

Environment and health co-benefits of vehicle emission control policy in Hubei, China

Vehicle exhaust has been important source of atmospheric pollution in China. In terms of the environmental effects of vehicle emission control policies (VECPs), changes in air pollutants and greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions are receiving increasing attention. Hubei has implemented many traffic controls to accelerate pollution abatement. However, few studies have reported how they would affect pollutant emissions in Hubei in the future, as most concentrate on assessments during COVID-19. Further, there has been little research on whether these controls bring observable health benefits. Thus, this study comprehensively evaluates the emission of major air pollutants (including NOx, CO, VOCs, PM2.5, PM10, and PMTSP) and GHGs (CO2, CH4, and N2O) from the transportation sector concerning different VECPs in Hubei during 2015–2050, together with health outcomes. It highlights that individual VECPs contribute differently to environmental and health benefits, encouraging innovation in mechanisms and technologies to mitigate atmospheric pollution while generating health benefits.

Aggravated air pollution and health burden due to traffic congestion in urban China

Abstract. Vehicle emissions are regarded as a primary contributor to air pollution and related adverse health impacts. Heavy traffic congestion increases traffic flow and thus produces more O3 precursor emissions, leading to more adverse air quality issues. Although the development of a vehicle emission inventory has received great concern and continuous efforts, limitations still exist. For example, real-time diurnal variations and increases in emission rates due to traffic congestion are not well understood. In this study, we developed a new temporal allocation approach in transportation emissions to investigate the impact on air quality and health burden due to traffic congestion in China in 2020. Both real-time congestion-level data and emission correction factors were considered in the approach. Results show that traffic congestion aggravates air pollution and health burden across China, especially in the urban clusters such as the North China Plain and Sichuan Basin. In these regions, the average annual increases in fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone (O3) could be up to 3.5 µg m−3 and 1.1 ppb, respectively. The excess PM2.5 and O3 attributed to the traffic congestion also induce an additional 20 000 and 5000 premature deaths in China, respectively. In major cities, the increased rate of premature mortality caused by traffic congestion may reach 17.5 %. Therefore, more effective and comprehensive vehicle emission control policies or better planning of the road network should be established to reduce traffic congestion and improve air quality in China.

How does vehicle emission control policy affect air pollution emissions? Evidence from Hainan Province, China

Vehicular emissions have become important sources of air pollution in China. Regarding the environmental impacts of vehicle emission control policies (VECPs), changes in air pollutants and CO2 emissions have attracted more attention. Hainan is the first province in China declared to ban the sale of fuel-powered cars by 2030, aiming to accelerate cutting down the local air pollution emissions. However, there is no previous study examining how these VECPs would affect air pollutants in Hainan. Further, research on whether the controls would lead to a real carbon reduction is limited. Therefore, this paper quantitatively assesses the emission changes of primary air pollutants (including NOx, CO, VOCs, PM2.5, PM10, and PMTSP) and greenhouse gases (CO2, CH4, and N2O) in the transportation sector with regard to different VECPs in Hainan. The results reveal that (1) VECPs would lead to significant increases in vehicular population by 21 %–65 % in 2025–2050. Specifically, light-duty cars and buses with 4-stroke engines (LD4Cs) is the largest contributor and banning sales of fuel-powered vehicles would lead to a larger increase of 1914.6 thousand (64 %) in 2030; (2) for air pollutant emissions, the policy scenario would bring notable reduction effects, decreasing by 1.0 %–16.0 % and 16.7 %–38.7 % in 2030 and 2050 (PM excluding), respectively, suggesting VECPs play important roles in alleviating environmental pollution; (3) conversely, for CO2 emissions, the policy scenario would cause increases of 0.8 Mt. (17.8 %) and 0.3 Mt. (6.1 %) in 2035 and 2050, respectively, indicating promoting new energy vehicles (NEVs) would increase carbon emissions. Meanwhile, it suggests that CO2 emission in the transportation sector of Hainan peaked in 2020. This research highlights that VECPs would be a double-edged sword, leading to air pollutants reductions but not necessarily decline CO2 emissions. This fact would further accelerate mechanism and technological innovation in transport to alleviate air pollution and carbon emissions simultaneously.

Characterizing the toxic gaseous emissions of gasoline and diesel vehicles based on a real-world on-road investigation

The increasing production and population of motor vehicles in China have severely aggravated ambient air pollution and threatened public health, as vehicle emissions generate toxic pollutants. Understanding vehicular emission characteristics for the purpose of targeted control measures is critically important for improving efficient use of fossil energy and promoting sustainable development of global ambient environment. There have been many studies on vehicle emissions in cities of a level terrain (i.e., road grade within 2%), while there is currently very limited research effort in studying vehicle emissions in mountainous terrains. In China, mountains, plateaus, and hilly areas account for 69% of the total land area. To fill that knowledge gap, this study performed real-world emission measurements on a busy mountainous road in a Chinese city, Fuzhou, using both light-duty gasoline and medium-duty diesel vehicles equipped with a Portable Emissions Measurement System. Instantaneous second-by-second CO, NOx, and HC emissions, vehicle speed, and location data were recorded simultaneously. There are several major findings and policy implications from the study. First, per kilometer emissions from the medium-duty diesel vehicles are orders of magnitude higher than the light-duty gasoline vehicles, and therefore vehicle emission control policy must emphasize on medium-duty diesel vehicles to achieve greater reduction. Second, the effects of speed and acceleration, separate or joint, on per kilometer emissions are nonlinear and differ between the light-duty gasoline and the medium-duty diesel vehicles in the mountainous road. Third, moderate upgrade, acceleration, and moderately high speed are found to be associated with high per kilometer emissions in mountainous roads. Conservative driving behavior associated with steep uphill actually results in slightly reduced per kilometer emissions from those with moderate uphill driving. Fourth, with the Chinese national vehicle emission standards become more stringent, there is a lag in the vehicular emissions control technology development and regulations for NOx and HC as compared to CO in China. And lastly, per kilometer emissions of light-duty gasoline vehicles are more sensitive to vehicle specific power than those of medium-duty diesel vehicles. And the current MOVES operating mode definition by vehicle specific power is not adequate for medium-duty diesel vehicle emissions in mountainous roads. Thus, a modified operating mode definition is proposed. The study findings will provide important scientific basis for developing a China-specific mountainous emissions model and vehicle emission control policies.

Health benefits of on-road transportation pollution control programs in China

China started to implement comprehensive measures to mitigate traffic pollution at the end of 1990s, but the comprehensive effects, especially on ambient air quality and public health, have not yet been systematically evaluated. In this study, we analyze the effects of vehicle emission control measures on ambient air pollution and associated deaths attributable to long-term exposures of fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and O3 based on an integrated research framework that combines scenario analysis, air quality modeling, and population health risk assessment. We find that the total impact of these control measures was substantial. Vehicular emissions during 1998-2015 would have been 2-3 times as large as they actually were, had those measures not been implemented. The national population-weighted annual average concentrations of PM2.5 and O3 in 2015 would have been higher by 11.7 μg/m3 and 8.3 parts per billion, respectively, and the number of deaths attributable to 2015 air pollution would have been higher by 510 thousand (95% confidence interval: 360 thousand to 730 thousand) without these controls. Our analysis shows a concentration of mortality impacts in densely populated urban areas, motivating local policymakers to design stringent vehicle emission control policies. The results imply that vehicle emission control will require policy designs that are more multifaceted than traditional controls, primarily represented by the strict emission standards, with careful consideration of the challenges in coordinated mitigation of both PM2.5 and O3 in different regions, to sustain improvement in air quality and public health given continuing swift growth in China's vehicle population.

Using wavelet transform to analyse on-road mobile measurements of air pollutants: a case study to evaluate vehicle emission control policies during the 2014 APEC summit

Abstract. Vehicle emissions are a major source of air pollution in urban areas and thus greatly impact air quality in the megacity Beijing. Various vehicle emission control policies have been implemented at great cost, but there is a lack of appropriate methods to evaluate the effectiveness of such policies. Here we developed a wavelet transform method (WTM) to evaluate the effectiveness of vehicle emission control policies during the 2014 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, taking advantage of high-time-resolution mobile measurements of NO, NOx, BC, CO, SO2, and O3 made around the 4th Ring Road of Beijing. The WTM decomposed on-road mobile measurements into high- and low-frequency components, where the former represents immediate vehicle emissions, and the latter represents the atmospheric background in addition to accumulated on-road emissions. The high-frequency component of the WTM (CH_freq.), which represents the concentrations of pollutants from vehicle emissions (Cveh.), was used to evaluate the changes in vehicle emission intensity in the full-APEC period (3–12 November 2014) relative to the pre-APEC (28 October to 2 November 2014) and post-APEC (13–22 November 2014) periods, during which different vehicle emission control policies were implemented. Our results suggest that the Cveh. of NO, NOx, BC, and CO in the full-APEC period were 19.4 %, 17.7 %, 0.0 %, and 50.0 % lower, respectively, than those in the pre-APEC period during daytime and were 50.0 %, 47.3 %, 62.5 %, and 50.0 % lower than those in the post-APEC period during daytime. The Cveh. of NO, NOx, BC, and CO in the full-APEC period were 65.3 %, 65.4 %, 14.3 %, and 50.0 % lower than those in the post-APEC period during night-time. These results indicate that the vehicle emission control policies implemented during the full-APEC period were effective. Using on-road mobile measurements in combination with the WTM, we developed a new method for the evaluation of pollution control policies.

A WRF-Chem model-based future vehicle emission control policy simulation and assessment for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, China

Using 2025 as the target year, we quantitatively assessed the reduction potentials of emissions of primary pollutants (including CO, HC, NOx, PM2.5 and PM10) under different vehicle control policies and the impacts of vehicle emission control policies in the BTH region on the regional PM2.5 concentration in winter and the surface ozone (O3) concentration in summer. Comparing the different scenarios, we found that (1) vehicle control policies will bring significant reductions in the emissions of primary pollutants. Among the individual policies, upgrading new vehicle emission standards and fuel quality in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei will be the most effective policy, with emission reductions of primary pollutants of 26.3%–54.7%, 38.0%–70.3% and 46.0%–81.6% in 2025, respectively; (2) for PM2.5 in winter, the Combined Scenario (CS) will lead to a reduction of 0.5–3.9 μg m−3 (3.5%–11.6%) for the monthly average PM2.5 concentrations in most areas. The monthly nitrate and ammonium concentrations would reduce by 5.8% and 5.3%, respectively, in the whole BTH region, indicating that vehicle emission control policies may play an important role in the reduction of PM2.5 concentrations in winter, especially for nitrate aerosols; and (3) for O3 concentrations in summer, vehicle emission control policies will lead to significant decreases. Under the CS scenario, the maximum reduction of monthly average O3 concentrations in the summer is approximately 3.6 ppb (5.9%). Most areas in the BTH region have a decrease of 15 ppb (7.5%) in peak values compared to the base scenario. However, in some VOC-sensitive areas in the BTH region, such as the southern urban areas, significant reductions in NOx may lead to increases in ozone concentrations. Our results highlight that season- and location-specific vehicle emission control measures are needed to alleviate ambient PM2.5 and O3 pollution effectively in this region due to the complex meteorological conditions and atmospheric chemical reactions.

Chemical Composition of Particulate Matter from Traffic Emissions in a Road Tunnel in Xi’an, China

ABSTRACT Chemical compositions of particulate matter (PM) from traffic emissions vary by region and with time. Therefore, it is necessary to obtain local mobile source profiles of PM to support regional researches for vehicle emission control policy, source apportionment modeling, etc. In this study, PM2.5 and PM10 samples were collected from a highway tunnel in Xi’an in northwestern China. The chemical composition, specifically, the OC, EC, water-soluble ions, and elements, was analyzed in detail to (1) provide local PM profiles for a mixed vehicle fleet, (2) identify the origins of different elements in the tunnel environment, and (3) determine the associated factors influencing the profiles. The PM2.5 profiles in the tunnel were identified as OC (34.10%), EC (11.96%), water-soluble ions (18.22%), and elements (27.73%), while the PM10 profiles included OC (28.48%), EC (8.59%), water-soluble ions (14.17%), and elements (33.36%), respectively. The origins of the elements in the tunnel were classified into three categories by the receptor modeling approach: resuspended road dust and brake wear, vehicle exhaust and tire wear, and tailpipe emissions from diesel vehicles (DV). The mass fractions of OC, EC, and elements originating from resuspended road dust and brake wear were mainly affected by vehicle driving conditions (i.e., uphill/downhill and speed), whereas the mass content of bromine (Br) was influenced by the proportion of DV in the fleet.

Ammonia Emission Measurements for Light-Duty Gasoline Vehicles in China and Implications for Emission Modeling.

Motor vehicle ammonia (NH3) emissions have attracted increasing attention for their potential to form secondary aerosols in urban atmospheres. However, vehicle NH3 emission factors (EFs) remain largely unknown due to a lack of measurements. Thus, we conducted detailed measurements of NH3 emissions from 18 Euro 2 to Euro 5 light-duty gasoline vehicles (LDGVs) in Shanghai, China. The distance- and fuel-based NH3 EFs average 29.2 ± 24.1 mg·km-1 and 0.49 ± 0.41 g·kg-1, respectively. The average NH3-to-CO2 ratio is 0.41 ± 0.34 ppbv·ppmv-1. The measurements reveal that NH3 emissions from LDGVs are strongly correlated with both vehicle specific power (VSP) and the modified combustion efficiency (MCE); these relationships were used to predict LDGV NH3 EFs via a newly developed model. The predicted LDGV NH3 EFs under urban and highway driving cycles are 23.3 mg·km-1 and 84.5 mg·km-1, respectively, which are consistent with field measurements. The NH3 EF has decreased by 32% in average since the implementation of vehicle emission control policies in China five years ago. The model presented herein more accurately predicts LDGV NH3 emissions, contributing substantially to the compilation of NH3 emission inventories and prediction of future motor vehicle emissions in China.

High-resolution vehicle emission inventory and emission control policy scenario analysis, a case in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region, China

Urban air pollution has become a major concern in China. In the heavily populated and developed Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region, vehicle emissions are major pollution contributors. This paper aims to establish 2014 vehicle emission inventories for five major air pollutants in the BTH region: CO, HC, NOx, PM10 and PM2.5 and carry out an emission control policy scenario analysis based on the newly developed inventories. Results showed that total emissions of CO, HC, NOx, PM10 and PM2.5 from vehicles in the BTH region were 1622.4 kt, 187.5 kt, 544.7 kt, 23.5 kt, and 26.1 kt, respectively. Based on the emission inventory, high-resolution emission distribution maps of the study area were created at a scale of 1 km × 1 km by incorporating local traffic flow data. The CO, HC and NOx emission levels were higher in the southeast, while the PM10 and PM2.5 levels were relatively evenly distributed throughout the BTH region. Based on the emission inventories, four policy scenarios were set to simulate the emission changes, and results showed that eliminating old vehicles and upgrading oil quality could reduce emission efficiently. A policy of eliminating old vehicles was selected to calculate the economic cost. Results showed that the emission reduction efficiencies of unit cost decreased from Hebei, Tianjin to Beijing. The results of this study could help policy makers identify pollution sources and design appropriate control measures.

Evaluation of EDAR vehicle emissions remote sensing technology

Despite much work in recent years, vehicle emissions remain a significant contributor in many areas where air quality standards are under threat. Policy-makers are actively exploring options for next generation vehicle emission control and local fleet management policies, and new monitoring technologies to aid these activities. Therefore, we report here on findings from two separate but complementary blind evaluation studies of one new-to-market real-world monitoring option, HEAT LLC's Emission Detection And Reporting system or EDAR, an above-road open path instrument that uses Differential Absorption LIDAR to provide a highly sensitive and selective measure of passing vehicle emissions.The first study, by Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and Eastern Research Group, was a simulated exhaust gas test exercise used to investigate the instrumental accuracy of the EDAR. Here, CO, NO, CH4 and C3H8 measurements were found to exhibit high linearity, low bias, and low drift over a wide range of concentrations and vehicle speeds. Instrument accuracy was high (R2 0.996 for CO, 0.998 for NO; 0.983 for CH4; and 0.976 for C3H8) and detection limits were 50 to 100ppm for CO, 10 to 30ppm for NO, 15 to 35ppmC for CH4, and, depending on vehicle speed, 100 to 400ppmC3 for C3H8.The second study, by the Universities of Birmingham and Leeds and King's College London, used the comparison of EDAR, on-board Portable Emissions Measurement System (PEMS) and car chaser (SNIFFER) system measurements collected under real-world conditions to investigate in situ EDAR performance. Given the analytical challenges associated with aligning these very different measurements, the observed agreements (e.g. EDAR versus PEMS R2 0.92 for CO/CO2; 0.97 for NO/CO2; ca. 0.82 for NO2/CO2; and, 0.94 for PM/CO2) were all highly encouraging and indicate that EDAR also provides a representative measure of vehicle emissions under real-world conditions.

Chemical and stable carbon isotopic composition of PM<sub>2.5</sub> from on-road vehicle emissions in the PRD region and implications for vehicle emission control policy

Abstract. Vehicle emissions are a major source of urban air pollution. In recent decade, the Chinese government has introduced a range of policies to reduce vehicle emissions. In order to understand the chemical characteristics of PM2.5 from on-road vehicle emissions in the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region and to evaluate the effectiveness of control policies on vehicle emissions, the emission factors of PM2.5 mass, elemental carbon (EC), organic carbon (OC), water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC), water-soluble inorganic ions (WSII), metal elements, organic compounds and stable carbon isotopic composition were measured in the Zhujiang tunnel of Guangzhou, in the PRD region of China in 2013. Emission factors of PM2.5 mass, OC, EC and WSOC were 92.4, 16.7, 16.4 and 1.31 mg vehicle−1 km−1 respectively. Emission factors of WSII were 0.016 (F-) ~ 4.17 (Cl−) mg vehicle−1 km−1, contributing about 9.8% to the PM2.5 emissions. The sum of 27 measured metal elements accounted for 15.2% of PM2.5 emissions. Fe was the most abundant metal element, with an emission factor of 3.91 mg vehicle−1 km−1. Emission factors of organic compounds including n-alkanes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, hopanes and steranes were 91.9, 5.02, 32.0 and 7.59 μg vehicle−1 km−1, respectively. Stable carbon isotopic composition δ13C value was −25.0‰ on average. An isotopic fractionation of 3.2‰ was found during fuel combustion. Compared to a previous study in Zhujiang tunnel in 2004, emission factors of PM2.5mass, EC, OC, WSII except Cl- and organic compounds decreased by 16.0 ~ 93.4%, which could be attributed to emission control policy from 2004 to 2013. However, emission factors of most of the metal elements increased significantly, which could be partially attributed to the changes in motor oil additives and vehicle conditions. There are no mandatory national standards to limit metal content from vehicle emissions, which should be a concern of the government. A snapshot of the 2013 characteristic emissions of PM2.5 and its constituents from the on-road vehicular fleet in the PRD region retrieved from our study would be helpful for the assessment of past and future implementations of vehicle emission control policy.

Development of Air Toxic Emission Factor and Inventory of On-road Mobile Sources

Dynamic emission factors of air toxic compounds, emitted from vehicles in Bangkok, Thailand, are developed using the IVE model. The model takes into account the actual fleet and characteristics of vehicles in the study area. It is found that the calculated emission factors are greatly influenced by vehicle emission control policy. Approximately 2000 tons of benzene emission per year is reduced by the changing of fuel quality from Euro 2 to Euro 4 standards. As for mitigation measures, introduction of gasohol and natural gas as alternative fuels, as well as encouraging the utilization of public transportation systems, are analyzed. The outcomes reveal that a combined scenario using 100% gasohol plus decreasing vehicle kilometers traveled (VKT) by 20% is the most effective in reduction of benzene emission. In addition, 1,3-butadiene, acetaldehyde and formaldehyde emissions are greatly decreased by the combined scenario of using compressed natural gas (CNG) plus decreasing VKT by 20%.

Historical evaluation of vehicle emission control in Guangzhou based on a multi-year emission inventory

The Guangzhou government adopted many vehicle emission control policies and strategies during the five-year preparation (2005–2009) to host the 2010 Asian Games. This study established a multi-year emission inventory for vehicles in Guangzhou during 2005–2009 and estimated the uncertainty in total vehicle emissions by taking the assumed uncertainties in fleet-average emission factors and annual mileage into account. In 2009, the estimated total vehicle emissions in Guangzhou were 313 000 (242 000–387 000) tons of CO, 60 900 (54 000–70 200) tons of THC, 65 600 (56 800–74 100) tons of NOx and 2740 (2100–3400) tons of PM10. Vehicle emissions within the urban area of Guangzhou were estimated to be responsible for ∼40% of total gaseous pollutants and ∼25% of total PM10 in the entire city. Although vehicle use intensity increased rapidly in Guangzhou during 2005–2009, vehicle emissions were estimated to have been reduced by 12% for CO, 21% for THC and 20% for PM10 relative to those in 2005. NOx emissions were estimated to have remained almost constant during this period. Compared to the “without control” scenario, 19% (15%–23%) of CO, 20% (18%–23%) of THC, 9% (8%–10%) of NOx and 16% (12%–20%) of PM10 were estimated to have been mitigated from a combination of the implementation of Euro III standards for light-duty vehicles (LDVs) and heavy-duty diesel vehicles and improvement of fuel quality. This study also evaluated several enhanced vehicle emission control actions taken recently. For example, the enhanced I/M program for LDVs was estimated to reduce 11% (9%–14%) of CO, 9% (8%–10%) of THC and 2% (2%–3%) of NOx relative to total vehicle emissions in 2009. Total emission reductions by temporary traffic controls for the Asian Games were estimated equivalent to 9% (7%–11%) of CO, 9% (8%–10%) of THC, 5% (5%–6%) of NOx and 10% (8%–13%) of PM10 estimated total vehicle emissions in 2009. Those controls are essential to further vehicle emission mitigation in Guangzhou required by the new National Ambient Air Quality Standards.

The technological fix as a frame in media debates about tailpipe emissions

Numerous studies of vehicle emission control policies suggest that, in many cases, technology and “technological optimism” shaped the policy process. This study contributes to this literature by content analyzing national media discourse on motor vehicle emissions from 2000 to 2008. We employ the social constructionism and policy design framework to identify problem definitions, policy solutions and policy actors in the media discourse and to deconstruct the role of technology in public debate about vehicle emissions. Our analysis indicates that tailpipe emissions are defined either as a public health or environmental issue, but in either case, ‘technological fixes’ are the most prominent solution promoted by policy actors in the media. The nature of the media debate conflicts with a growing consensus among transportation planners and the public that meaningful, additional reductions in vehicle emissions will require changes in individual travel behavior and transportation planning in addition to advances in technology.

Assessment of motor vehicle emission control policies using Model-3/CMAQ model for the Pearl River Delta region, China

Abstract In recent decades, the Pearl River Delta (PRD) region located in south China has been experiencing severe air pollution, arising from the rapid increase in industry and motor vehicles. As a major contributing source to VOCs and NO x emissions, control of vehicular emissions plays a very important role in improving regional air quality. By taking 2015 as a target year, this paper assessed the impacts of five possible motor vehicle emission control measures and a combined policy scenario on ambient air quality in the PRD region, with the use of the Model-3/CMAQ (Community Multi-scale Air Quality) model. The results show: (1) an overall decreasing pattern in SO 2 , NO 2 and PM 10 concentrations was found in central-south metropolitan areas of the PRD region for all measures, but increased O 3 concentrations may occur in these areas as well. The exception to this is that a slight decrease was observed for the cases of motorcycle restriction and introduction of HEV; (2) upgrading to National IV emission standards is the most effective individual measure and can reduce daily averaged NO 2 and PM 10 concentrations by 11.7 ppbV and 21.3 μg m −3 , respectively; but involves an increase (at maximum) of 10.3ppbV in O 3 concentration. Evaluation of the combined scenario indicates that solely controlling motor vehicle emissions is not sufficient to improve PRD regional air quality significantly. O 3 and PM 10 concentrations under the same VOC/NO x reduction ratios exhibit differently at different locations, suggesting that integrated and location-specific pollution control strategies, considering co-control of multi-pollutants, are needed in this region in order to decrease primary and secondary pollutant concentrations simultaneously.

On-Road Vehicle Emission Control in Beijing: Past, Present, and Future

Beijing, the capital of China, has experienced rapid motorization since 1990; a trend that is likely to continue. The growth in vehicles and the corresponding emissions create challenges to improving the urban air quality. In an effort to reduce the impact of vehicle emissions on urban air quality, Beijing has adopted a number of vehicle emission control strategies and policies since the mid 1990 s. These are classified into seven categories: (1) emission control on new vehicles; (2) emission control on in-use vehicles; (3) fuel quality improvements; (4) alternative-fuel and advanced vehicles; (5) economic policies; (6) public transport; and (7) temporal traffic control measures. Many have proven to be successful, such as the Euro emission standards, unleaded gasoline and low sulfur fuel, temporal traffic control measures during the Beijing Olympic Games, etc. Some, however, have been failures, such as the gasoline-to-LPG taxi retrofit program. Thanks to the emission standards for new vehicles as well as other controls, the fleet-average emission rates of CO, HC, NO(X), and PM(10) by each major vehicle category are decreasing over time. For example, gasoline cars decreased fleet-average emission factors by 12.5% for CO, 10.0% for HC, 5.8% for NO(X), and 13.0% for PM(10) annually since 1995, and such a trend is likely to continue. Total emissions for Beijing's vehicle fleet increased from 1995 to 1998. However, they show a clear and steady decrease between 1999 and 2009. In 2009, total emissions of CO, HC, NO(X), and PM(10) were 845,000 t, 121,000 t, 84,000 t, and 3700 t, respectively; with reductions of 47%, 49%, 47%, and 42%, relative to 1998. Beijing has been considered a pioneer in controlling vehicle emissions within China, similar to the role of California to the U.S. The continued rapid growth of vehicles, however, is challenging Beijing's policy-makers.