scholarly journals Carbon and air pollutant emissions from China's cement industry 1990–2015: trends, evolution of technologies and drivers

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jun Liu ◽  
Dan Tong ◽  
Yixuan Zheng ◽  
Jing Cheng ◽  
Xinying Qin ◽  
...  

Abstract. China is the largest cement producer and consumer in the world. Cement manufacturing is highly energy-intensive, and is one of the major contributors to carbon dioxide (CO2) and air pollutant emissions, which threatens climate mitigation and air quality improvement. In this study, we investigated the decadal changes of carbon dioxide and air pollutant emissions for the period of 1990–2015, based on intensive unit-based information on activity rates, production capacity, operation status, and control technologies, which improved the accuracy of the cement emissions in China. We found that, from 1990 to 2015, accompanied by a 10.9-fold increase in cement production, CO2, SO2, and NOx emissions from China's cement industry increased by 626 %, 59 %, and 658 %, whereas CO, PM2.5 and PM10 emissions decreased by 9 %, 66 %, and 63 %, respectively. In the 1990s, driven by the rapid growth of cement production, CO2 and air pollutant emissions increased constantly. Then, the production technology innovation of replacing traditional shaft kilns with the new precalciner kilns in the 2000s markedly reduced SO2, CO and PM emissions from the cement industry. Since 2010, the growing trend of emissions has been further curbed by a combination of measures, including promoting large-scale precalciner production lines and phasing out small ones, upgrading emission standards, installing low-NOx burners (LNB) and selective noncatalytic reduction (SNCR) to reduce NOx emissions, as well as adopting more advanced particulate matter control technologies. Our study highlighted the effectiveness of advanced technologies on air pollutant emission control, however, CO2 emissions from China's cement industry kept growing throughout the period, posing challenges to future carbon emission mitigation in China.

2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 1627-1647
Author(s):  
Jun Liu ◽  
Dan Tong ◽  
Yixuan Zheng ◽  
Jing Cheng ◽  
Xinying Qin ◽  
...  

Abstract. China is the largest cement producer and consumer in the world. Cement manufacturing is highly energy-intensive and is one of the major contributors to carbon dioxide (CO2) and air pollutant emissions, which threatens climate mitigation and air quality improvement. In this study, we investigated the decadal changes in carbon dioxide and air pollutant emissions for the period of 1990–2015 based on intensive unit-based information on activity rates, production capacity, operation status, and control technologies which improved the accuracy of the cement emissions in China. We found that, from 1990 to 2015, accompanied by a 10.3-fold increase in cement production, CO2, SO2, and NOx emissions from China's cement industry increased by 627 %, 56 %, and 659 %, whereas CO, PM2.5, and PM10 emissions decreased by 9 %, 63 %, and 59 %, respectively. In the 1990s, driven by the rapid growth of cement production, CO2 and air pollutant emissions increased constantly. Then, the technological innovation in production of replacing traditional shaft kilns with the new precalciner kilns equipped with high-efficiency control facilities in the 2000s markedly reduced SO2, CO, and PM emissions in the cement industry. In 2010, nationwide, 39 % and 31 % of the nationwide PM2.5 and NOx emission were produced by 3 % and 15 % of the total capacity of the production lines, indicating the disproportionately high emissions from a small number of the super-polluting units. Since 2010, the growing trend of emissions has been further curbed by a combination of measures, including promoting large-scale precalciner production lines and phasing out small ones, upgrading emission standards, installing low NOx burners (LNB), and selective non-catalytic reduction (SNCR) to reduce NOx emissions, as well as adopting more advanced particulate matter control technologies. Our study highlights the effectiveness of advanced technologies on air pollutant emission control; however, CO2 emissions from China's cement industry kept growing throughout the period, posing challenges to future carbon emission mitigation in China.


Author(s):  
Daniel-Eduard Constantin ◽  
Corina Bocăneala ◽  
Mirela Voiculescu ◽  
Adrian Roşu ◽  
Alexis Merlaud ◽  
...  

The aim of this paper is to investigate the evolution of SO2 and NOx emissions of ten very large combustion plants (LCPs >500 MW) located in the European Union (EU) during 2005–2015. The evolution of NOx and SO2 emissions were analyzed against the EU Directives in force during 2005–2015. The investigation was performed using space-borne observations and estimated emissions collected from the EEA (European Environment Agency) inventory of air pollutant emissions. The power plants were chosen according to their capacity and emissions, located in various parts of Europe, to give an overall picture of atmospheric pollution with NOx and SO2 associated with the activity of very large LCPs in Europe. Satellite observations from OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instrument) are compared with calculated emissions in order to assess whether satellite observations can be used to monitor air quality, as a standard procedure, by governmental or nongovernmental institutions. Our results show that both space observations and estimated emissions of NOx and SO2 atmospheric content have a descending trend until 2010, complying with the EU Directives. The financial and economic crisis during 2007–2009 played an important role in reducing emissions.


2019 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 044018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amelia T Keyes ◽  
Kathleen F Lambert ◽  
Dallas Burtraw ◽  
Jonathan J Buonocore ◽  
Jonathan I Levy ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lei Zhang ◽  
Tianliang Zhao ◽  
Sunling Gong ◽  
Shaofei Kong ◽  
Lili Tang ◽  
...  

Abstract. Air pollutant emissions play a determinant role in deteriorating air quality. However, an uncertainty in emission inventories is still the key problem for modeling air pollution. In this study, an updated emission inventory of coal-fired power plants (UEIPP) based on online monitoring data in Jiangsu province of East China for the year of 2012 was implemented in the widely used Multi-resolution Emission Inventory for China (MEIC). By employing the Weather Research and Forecasting Model with Chemistry (WRF-Chem), two simulations were executed to assess the atmospheric environmental change by using the original MEIC emission inventory and the MEIC inventory with the UEIPP. A synthetic analysis shows that (1) compared to the power emissions of MEIC, PM2.5, PM10, SO2 and NOx were lower, and CO, black carbon (BC), organic carbon (OC) and NMVOCs were higher in the UEIPP, reflecting a large discrepancy in the power emissions over East China; (2) In accordance with the changes of UEIPP, the modeled concentrations were reduced for SO2 and NO2, and increased for most areas of primary OC, BC and CO, whose concentrations in atmosphere are highly dependent on emission changes. (3) Interestingly, when the UEIPP was used, the atmospheric oxidizing capacity significantly reinforced, reflecting by increased oxidizing agents, e.g. O3 and OH, thus directly strengthened the chemical production from SO2 and NOx to sulfate and nitrate, which offset the reduction of primary PM2.5 emissions especially in the haze days. This study indicated the importance of updating air pollutant emission inventories in simulating the complex atmospheric environment changes with the implications on air quality and environmental changes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 5-14
Author(s):  
Carmelia Mariana Dragomir Balanica ◽  
Ciprian Cuzmin ◽  
Cecilia Serban ◽  
Cristian Muntenita

Road transport, including accessibility and individual mobility is considered unanimously as a fundamental element of contemporary living. The study area is considering Braila County with a total population of around over 305,000. The area it is well served by 6 national roads, 27 county roads and 42 communal roads and contains some of the most heavily trafficked stretches of road in the Romania. The emissions analysed in this study CH4, CO, CO2, N2O, NH3, NOx, PM2.5 and PM10, were collected by the Agency for Environmental Protection Braila during 2015-2019 based on questionnaires according to EMEP/EEA air pollutant emission inventory guidebook. The highest level of pollutant emissions was recorded in 2017, more exactly 191714,5 Megatons. In this article we analysed five categories of pollution sources: Passenger car, Light commercial trucks, Heavy-duty vehicles, Motorcycles and Non - Road vehicles and other mobile equipment. With the exception of CO2, N2O and NH3, pollutant emissions decreased for the eight pollutants analysed.


Author(s):  
K. K. Botros ◽  
L. Siarkowski ◽  
S. Barss ◽  
R. Manabat

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) publishes emissions factors for gas turbines in its Compilation of Air Pollutant Emission Factors, “Volume I Stationary Point and Area Sources, Publication No. AP-42”. This document uses an emissions factor (EF) which is a representative value that attempts to relate the quantity of a pollutant released to the atmosphere with an activity associated with the release of that pollutant. For natural gas-fired gas turbines, EPA NOx (nitrogen oxides) emissions factors are usually expressed as the weight of pollutant per unit fuel volume burned or its equivalent heating value (e.g. kg/m3 or kg/GJ). In most cases, these factors are simply averages of available data, and are generally assumed to be representative of long-term averages for all facilities in the source category. Additionally, AP-42 specifies two EFs depending on the engine load being above or below 80% of rated power. In this paper, NOx emissions tests were conducted on four gas turbines. The first two were non dry low emissions (non-DLE) General Electric engines (LM1600), one in Alberta and the other in Ontario, with significant elevation difference. The other two were Rolls-Royce (R-R) engines; one DLE (RB211-24G) while the other is a non-DLE (RB211-24C), both in Alberta at the same elevation. These tests were conducted at different ambient temperatures varying from −7°C to +28°C using Continuous Emissions Monitoring (CEM) emissions samples based on EPA Method 7E standard. Predictive Emission Monitoring (PEM) systems were also developed based on these and previous testing, and predictions are compared to measured data. The difference between NOx emissions from these four engines at different loads (minimum to maximum) and different ambient conditions are presented and compared. A comparison with AP-42 emissions factors is presented and discussed. It was found that the elevation difference between the two LM1600 engines makes a significant difference in NOx emissions. Additionally, the emissions from the DLE engine when it is operating out of the DLE mode (at low loads) emits higher NOx than a non-DLE engine at the same load and ambient conditions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 1800
Author(s):  
Karolina Novak Mavar ◽  
Nediljka Gaurina-Međimurec ◽  
Lidia Hrnčević

Limiting the increase in CO2 concentrations in the atmosphere, and at the same time, meeting the increased energy demand can be achieved by applying carbon capture, utilization and storage (CCUS) technologies, which hold potential as the bridge for energy and emission-intensive industries to decarbonization goals. At the moment, the only profitable industrial large-scale carbon sequestration projects are large-scale carbon dioxide enhanced oil recovery (CO2-EOR) projects. This paper gives a general overview of the indirect and direct use of captured CO2 in CCUS with a special focus on worldwide large-scale CO2-EOR projects and their lifecycle emissions. On the basis of scientific papers and technical reports, data from 23 contemporary large-scale CO2-EOR projects in different project stages were aggregated, pointing out all the specificities of the projects. The specificities of individual projects, along with the lack of standardized methodologies specific for estimating the full lifecycle emissions resulting from CO2-EOR projects, pose a challenge and contribute to uncertainties and wide flexibilities when estimating emissions from CO2-EOR projects, making the cross-referencing of CO2-EOR projects and its comparison to other climate-mitigation strategies rather difficult. Pointing out the mentioned project’s differentiations and aggregating data on the basis of an overview of large-scale CO2-EOR projects gives useful information for future work on the topic of a CO2-EOR project’s lifecycle emissions.


Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 440
Author(s):  
Yi Ai ◽  
Yunshan Ge ◽  
Zheng Ran ◽  
Xueyao Li ◽  
Zhibing Xu ◽  
...  

Diesel-powered agricultural machinery (AM) is a significant contributor to air pollutant emissions, including nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate matter (PM). However, the fuel consumption and pollutant emissions from AM remain poorly quantified in many countries due to a lack of accurate activity data and emissions factors. In this study, the fuel consumption and air pollutant emission from AM were estimated using a survey and emission factors from the literature. A case study was conducted using data collected in Anhui, one of the agricultural provinces of China. The annual active hours of AM in Anhui ranged 130 to 175 h. The estimated diesel fuel consumption by AM was 1.45 Tg in 2013, approximately 25% of the total diesel consumption in the province. The air pollutants emitted by AM were 57 Gg of carbon monoxide, 14 Gg of hydrocarbon, 74 Gg of NOx and 5.7 Gg of PM in 2013. The NOx and PM emissions from AM were equivalent to 17% and 22% of total on-road traffic emissions in Anhui. Among nine types of AM considered, rural vehicles are the largest contributors to fuel consumption (31%) and air emissions (33–45%).


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