Impact of Beijing’s“Coal to Electricity”program on ambient PM_(2.5) and the associated reactive oxygen species(ROS)

The Beijing“Coal to Electricity”program provides a unique opportunity to explore air quality impacts by replacing residential coal burning with electrical appliances.In this study,the atmospheric ROS(Gas-phase ROS and Particle-phase ROS,abbreviated to G-ROS and P-ROS)were measured by an online instrument in parallel with concurrent PM_(2.5) sample collections analyzed for chemical composition and cellular ROS in a baseline year(Coal Use Year-CUY)and the first year following implementation of the“Coal to Electricity”program(Coal Ban Year-CBY).The results showed PM_(2.5) concentrations had no significant difference between the two sampling periods,but the activities of G-ROS,P-ROS,and cellular ROS in CBY were 8.72 nmol H_(2)O_(2)/m^(3),9.82 nmol H 2 O 2/m 3,and 2045.75μg UD/mg PM higher than in CUY.Six sources were identified by factor-analysis from the chemical components of PM_(2.5).Secondary sources(SECs)were the dominant source of PM_(2.5) in the two periods,with 15.90%higher contribution in CBY than in CUY.Industrial Emission&Coal Combustion sources(Ind.&CCs),mainly from regional transport,also increased significantly in CBY.The contributions of Aged Sea Salt&Residential Burning sources to PM_(2.5) decreased 5.31% from CUY to CBY.The correlation results illustrated that Ind.&CCs had significant positive correlations with atmospheric ROS,and SECs significantly associated with cellular ROS,especially nitrates(r=0.626,p=0.000).Therefore,the implementation of the“Coal to Electricity”program reduced PM_(2.5) contributions from coal and biomass combustion,but had little effect on the improvement of atmospheric and cellular ROS.