Characteristics, sources and health risk assessment of atmospheric carbonyls during multiple ozone pollution episodes in urban Beijing: Insights into control strategies.
Sci Total Environ
; 863: 160769, 2023 Mar 10.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2159792
ABSTRACT
Carbonyls have attracted continuous attention due to their critical roles in atmospheric chemistry and their potential hazards to the ecological environment and human health. In this study, atmospheric carbonyls were measured during several ground-level-ozone (O3) pollution episodes at three urban sites (CRAES, IEP and BJUT) in Beijing in 2019 and 2020. Comparative analysis revealed that the carbonyl concentrations were 20.25 ± 6.91 ppb and 13.43 ± 5.13 ppb in 2019 and 2020 in Beijing, respectively, with a significant spatial trend from north to south, and carbonyl levels in urban Beijing were in an upper-intermediate range in China, and higher than those in other countries reported in the literature. A particularly noteworthy phenomenon is the consistency of carbonyl concentrations with variations in O3 concentrations. On O3 polluted days, the carbonyl concentrations were 1.3-1.5 times higher than those on non-O3 polluted days. Secondary formation contributed more to formaldehyde (FA) and acetaldehyde (AA) on O3 polluted days, while the anthropogenic emissions were more significant for acetone (AC) on non-O3 polluted days. Vehicle exhaust and solvent utilization were the main primary contributors to carbonyls. Due to reduced anthropogenic emissions caused by the COVID-19 lockdown and the "Program for Controlling Volatile Organic Compounds in 2020" in China, the contributions of primary emissions to carbonyls decreased in 2020 in Beijing. Human cancer risks to exposed populations from FA and AA increased with elevated O3 levels, and the risks still remained on non-O3 polluted days. The residents around the BJUT site might experience relatively higher human cancer risks than those around the other two sites. The findings in this study confirmed that atmospheric carbonyl pollution and its potential human health hazards cannot be ignored in urban Beijing; therefore, more strict control strategies for atmospheric carbonyls are urgently needed to better protect human health in Beijing in the future.
Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Ozone
/
Air Pollutants
/
Volatile Organic Compounds
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Prognostic study
Limits:
Humans
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
Sci Total Environ
Year:
2023
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
J.scitotenv.2022.160769
Similar
MEDLINE
...
LILACS
LIS