Potential emission reductions by converting agricultural residue biomass to synthetic fuels for vehicles and domestic cooking in China

Vehicle exhaust and transported biomass burning emissions are important air pollution sources in many urban areas,and domestic cooking with biomass fuels causes indoor air pollution in many rural areas.Using agricultural waste-generated synthetic fuels can reduce emissions both from vehicles and biomass burning.To estimate the potential benefits of synthetic diesel in Beijing,the emission factor model for the Beijing vehicle fleet was applied to estimate exhaust emissions for the 2015-2030 period.Compared with 100%petroleum diesel,a 20%synthetic diesel blend reduced diesel fleet emissions by 24%for carbon monoxide,30%for total hydrocarbons,5.5%for nitrogen oxides,and 19%for fine particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter of≤2.5μm(PM2.5)while using 100%synthetic diesel decreased emissions by 36%for carbon monoxide,48%for total hydrocarbons,10%for nitrogen oxides,and 34%for PM2.5.The use of biomass for producing synthetic fuels rather than burning in the field also reduces air pollution.Over 60g of PM2.5 agricultural open-field burning emissions are avoided per liter of synthetic fuel produced.Replacing solid crop residues with synthetic liquid fuels in household cooking would reduce PM2.5 emissions by more than 90%.

Typical atmospheric haze during crop harvest season in northeastern China：A case in the Changchun region

This study presents the mass concentrations of PM（2.5）,O3,SO2 and NOxat one urban,one suburban and two rural locations in the Changchun region from September 25 to October 272013. Major chemical components of PM（2.5）at the four sites were daily sampled and analyzed. Most of daily concentrations of SO2（7–82 μg/m^3）,O3（27–171 μg/m^3） and NOx（14–213 μg/m^3） were below the limits of the National Ambient Air Quality Standard（NAAQS）in China. However,PM（2.5）concentrations（143–168 μg/m^3） were 2-fold higher than NAAQS.Higher PM（2.5）concentrations（~ 150 μg/m^3） were measured during the pre-harvest and harvest at the urban site,while PM（2.5）concentrations significantly increased from 250 to400 μg m^（-3） at suburban and rural sites with widespread biomass burning. At all sites,PM（2.5）components were dominated by organic carbon（OC） and followed by soluble component sulfate（SO4^（2-））,ammonium（NH4~＋） and nitrate（NO3^-）. Compared with rural sites,urban site had a higher mineral contribution and lower potassium（K~＋and K） contribution to PM（2.5）.Severe atmospheric haze events that occurred from October 21 to 23 were attributed to strong source emissions（e.g.,biomass burning） and unfavorable air diffusion conditions.Furthermore,coal burning originating from winter heating supply beginning on October 18 increased the atmospheric pollutant emissions. For entire crop harvest period,the Positive Matrix Factorization（PMF） analysis indicated five important emission contributors in the Changchun region,as follows： secondary aerosol（39%）,biomass burning（20%）,supply heating（18%）,soil/road dust（14%） and traffic（9%）.