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Sci Total Environ 2021 Mar 23;782:146571. Epub 2021 Mar 23.

Department of Information and Computer Engineering, Chung Yuan Christian University, Taoyuan City, Taipei, Taiwan, ROC.

In recent years, many surveillance cameras have been installed in the Greater Taipei Area, Taiwan; traffic data obtained from these surveillance cameras could be useful for the development of roadway-based emissions inventories. In this study, web-based traffic information covering the Greater Taipei Area was obtained using a vision-based traffic analysis system. Web-based traffic data were normalized and applied to the Community Multiscale Air Quality (CMAQ) model to study the impact of vehicle emissions on air quality in the Greater Taipei Area. Read More

Environ Geochem Health 2021 Apr 9. Epub 2021 Apr 9.

University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain.

The highly rugged mountainous land topography of the Novorossiysk industrial agglomeration (NW Caucasus, Krasnodar Krai, Russia) and arid climate limit the restoration abilities of disturbed mine lands. Abandoned waste-rock dumps of a marl quarry occupy an area of ca. 150,000 m next to the cement plant, residential districts, and a commercial seaport. Read More

Sci Rep 2021 Apr 7;11(1):7593. Epub 2021 Apr 7.

Institute of Earth Sciences, Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan.

Central Taiwan is among the most heavily polluted regions in Taiwan because of a complex mixing of local emissions from intense anthropogenic activities with natural dust. Long-range transport (LRT) of pollutants from outside Taiwan also contributes critically to the deterioration of air quality, especially during the northeast monsoon season. To identify the sources of particulate matter < 10 μm (PM) in central Taiwan, this study performed several sampling campaigns, including three local events, one LRT event, and one dust storm event, during the northeast monsoon season of 2018/2019. Read More

Environ Sci Technol 2021 Apr 4. Epub 2021 Apr 4.

Key Laboratory for Semi-Arid Climate Change of the Ministry of Education, College of Atmospheric Sciences, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, P. R. China.

Coal and coal gangue spontaneous combustion (CGSC) occurs globally, causing significant environmental pollution. However, its emissions are poorly quantified and are overlooked in global or regional air pollutant emission inventories in previous studies, resulting in the underestimation of its impacts on climate, environment, and public health. This study quantified the emissions of various air pollutants originating from CGSC in Wuhai, a city in China, investigated emission characteristics, and estimated the contribution of CGSC emissions to fine particulate matter (PM) air pollution and related health impacts on a regional scale. Read More

J Health Pollut 2021 Mar 2;11(29):210211. Epub 2021 Mar 2.

Department of Zoology, Tri-Chandra Multiple Campus, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Background: The Nepalese government announced a nationwide lockdown beginning on March 24, 2020 as an attempt to restrain the spread of COVID-19. The prohibition in flight operations and movement of vehicles, factory shutdowns and restriction in people's movement due to the lockdown led to a significant reduction in the amounts of pollutants degrading air quality in many countries.

Objectives: The present study aimed to analyze changes in particulate matter (PM) emissions and the air quality index (AQI) of six cities in Nepal i. Read More

Environ Pollut 2021 Mar 17;280:116955. Epub 2021 Mar 17.

Biomass Energy and Environmental Engineering Research Center, College of Chemical Engineering, Beijing University of Chemical Technology, Beijing, 100029, PR China.

The use of coal in Chinese households for winter heating emits harmful pollutants that severely affect indoor air quality and climate. Therefore, China has made efforts to transition into clean heating using improved heating stoves and biomass pellets. Although the economic and policy implications of such demonstration projects have been extensively investigated, little has been done to understand the real-world performance and adoption trends of such stoves. Read More

Int J Environ Res Public Health 2021 Mar 4;18(5). Epub 2021 Mar 4.

Department of Earth Sciences and Environment, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi 43600, Selangor, Malaysia.

This study aimed to assess the association of exposure to particle-bound (PM) polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with potential genotoxicity and cancer risk among children living near the petrochemical industry and comparative populations in Malaysia. PM samples were collected using a low-volume sampler for 24 h at three primary schools located within 5 km of the industrial area and three comparative schools more than 20 km away from any industrial activity. A gas chromatography-mass spectrometer was used to determine the analysis of 16 United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) priority PAHs. Read More

Int J Environ Res Public Health 2021 03 25;18(7). Epub 2021 Mar 25.

School of Business, East China University of Science and Technology, 130 Meilong Road, Shanghai 200237, China.

The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has provided a distinct opportunity to explore the mechanisms by which human activities affect air quality and pollution emissions. We conduct a quasi-difference-in-differences (DID) analysis of the impacts of lockdown measures on air pollution during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in China. Our study covers 367 cities from the beginning of the lockdown on 23 January 2020 until April 22, two weeks after the lockdown in the epicenter was lifted. Read More

Int J Environ Res Public Health 2021 Mar 15;18(6). Epub 2021 Mar 15.

Institute of Nature and Environmental Technology, Kanazawa University, Kakuma-machi, Kanazawa 920-1192, Japan.

Fine particulate matter (PM) samples were collected in the summer and winter of 2015 and 2017 in Xinxiang, China. Nine polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and three nitro-PAHs (NPAHs) in PM were detected via high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The PAHs concentration in summer and winter decreased from 6. Read More

Environ Sci Technol 2021 Apr 2. Epub 2021 Apr 2.

Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.

Residential solid fuel combustion (RSFC) is a key cause of air pollution in China. In these serial studies, field measurements of RSFC from 166 rural households in eastern China were conducted to update the database of emission factors (EFs) and chemical profiles of gaseous and particulate organic pollutants, and the present study focuses on the intermediate volatile organic compounds (IVOCs), which are precursors of secondary organic aerosol (SOA). The results show that the averaged EFs of IVOCs (EF) for crop straw, fuelwood, and coal are 550. Read More

Geohealth 2021 Mar 1;5(3):e2020GH000362. Epub 2021 Mar 1.

International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis Laxenburg Austria.

Global solid biofuel stove emissions strongly impact air quality, climate change, and human health. However, investigations of the impacts of global solid biofuel stove emissions on human health associated with PM (particulate matter with aerodynamic diameter ≤2.5 μm) and ozone (O) are limited. Read More

Front Environ Sci Eng 2021 15;15(6):126. Epub 2021 Mar 15.

CAS Key Laboratory of Forest Ecology and Management, Institute of Applied Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenyang, 110016 China.

Agricultural sources and non-agricultural emissions contribute to gaseous ammonia (NH) that plays a vital role in severe haze formation. Qualitative and quantitative contributions of these sources to ambient PM (particulate matter with an aerodynamic equivalent diameter below 2.5 µm) concentrations remains uncertain. Read More

Sci Total Environ 2021 Mar 19;780:146579. Epub 2021 Mar 19.

Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803, USA.

During January-February 2020, parts of China faced restricted mobility under COVID-19 quarantines, which have been associated with improved air quality. Because particulate pollutants scatter, diffuse, and absorb incoming solar radiation, a net negative radiative forcing, decreased air pollution can yield surface warming. As such, this study (1) documents the evolution of China's January-February 2020 air temperature and concurrent particulate changes; (2) determines the temperature response related to reduced particulates during the COVID-19 quarantine (C19Q); and (3) discusses the conceptual implications for temperature-dependent disease transmission. Read More

Chemosphere 2021 Mar 19;277:130312. Epub 2021 Mar 19.

MOE Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.

Atmospheric coarse particulate matter (PM) enriched with heavy metal(loid)s could pose potentially significant health risk to humans, while accurate health risk assessment calls for characterization of their bioaccessibility, besides the total contents. The health risk of major toxic heavy metal(loid)s in the PM from four large cities in northern China via inhalation was investigated based on their total contents and bioaccessibility. The annual mean concentrations of PM-bound Zn, As, Pb, and Mn in the atmosphere of the four cities were 650, 305, 227, and 177 ng⋅m, respectively. Read More

Chemosphere 2021 Mar 16;277:130276. Epub 2021 Mar 16.

Department of Natural Resource Sciences, McGill University, 21111 Lakeshore Road, Ste-Anne-de-Bellevue, Quebec, Canada H9X 3V9.

Heavy metals associated with airborne particulate matter are detrimental to human health, but risk assessment is difficult due to the technical challenges of determining exposure rates. In houses and other buildings, the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system is equipped with an air filter that captures airborne particulate matter from the indoor air that enters the HVAC system. This study used the air filter dust as a proxy for the heavy metal exposure of children and adults, based on a household study in Kuwait. Read More

Indoor Air 2021 Mar 26. Epub 2021 Mar 26.

Air Quality Studies, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hong Kong, China.

Due to the high health risks associated with indoor air pollutants and long-term exposure, indoor air quality has received increasing attention. In this study, we put emphasis on the molecular composition, source emissions, and chemical aging of air pollutants in a residence with designed activities mimicking ordinary Hong Kong homes. More than 150 air pollutants were detected at molecular level, 87 of which were quantified at a time resolution of not less than 1 hour. Read More

Environ Monit Assess 2021 Mar 27;193(4):231. Epub 2021 Mar 27.

School of Environmental Sciences, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, 110067, India.

The present study reports the indoor abundance of inorganic trace gases (NH, NO and SO) and their corresponding particulates (NH, NO and SO) along with other major ionic species present in the aerosol form (Cl, F, Na, K, Ca and Mg), in the urban households of megacity Delhi (India). Two different households (DH site and MH site) were selected in the city based on the variation in the land use patterns of the locations in which they were situated. Trace gases followed the order NH > SO > NO at both the sites with NH contributing about 90% and 85% to the total Nr species at DH and MH sites, respectively. Read More

Sci Total Environ 2021 Jun 2;772:144836. Epub 2021 Feb 2.

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, England, United Kingdom.

The 2019 Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV 2 (COVID-19) pandemic has severely impacted global health, safety, economic development and diplomacy. The government of Nepal issued a lockdown order in the Kathmandu Valley for 80 days from 24 March to 11 June 2020. This paper reports associated changes in ambient PM measured at fixed-site monitors and changes in personal exposure to PM monitored by APT Minima by four American diplomats who completed monitoring before and during lockdown (24 h for each period per person, 192 person-hours in total). Read More

J Environ Manage 2021 Mar 21;288:112370. Epub 2021 Mar 21.

Key Laboratory of Middle Atmosphere and Global Environment Observation (LAGEO), Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China.

Central North China Plain (NCP) is one of the most important source region of air pollutants over the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region. The national government has issued abatement measures to improve the air quality in this area from 2017. To examine the effects of control measures, observational analysis on PM characteristics was performed in a city of central NCP during 2017-2019 to investigate the variation in mass concentration, chemical composition, and emission source of PM. Read More

Environ Pollut 2021 Mar 11;279:116931. Epub 2021 Mar 11.

Key Lab of Aerosol Chemistry and Physics, SKLLQG, Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710061, China; CAS Center for Excellence in Quaternary Science and Global Change, Xi'an, Shaanxi, 710061, China. Electronic address:

Stringent mitigation measures have reduced wintertime fine particulate matter (PM) concentrations by 42.2% from 2013 to 2018 in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region, but severe PM pollution still frequently engulfs the region. The observed nitrate aerosols have not exhibited a significant decreasing trend and constituted a major fraction (about 20%) of the total PM, although the surface-measured NO concentration has decreased by over 20%. Read More

Sci Rep 2021 Mar 22;11(1):6550. Epub 2021 Mar 22.

Institute for Integrated Radiation and Nuclear Science (KURNS), Kyoto University, Kumatori, Osaka, 590-0494, Japan.

The aerosol oxidative potential (OP) is considered to better represent the acute health hazards of aerosols than the mass concentration of fine particulate matter (PM). The proposed major contributors to OP are water soluble transition metals and organic compounds, but the relative magnitudes of these compounds to the total OP are not yet fully understood. In this study, as the first step toward the numerical prediction of OP, the cumulative OP (OP*) based on the top five key transition metals, namely, Cu, Mn, Fe, V, and Ni, was defined. Read More

Environ Res 2021 Mar 20;197:111050. Epub 2021 Mar 20.

Department of Advanced Material Technologies, Faculty of Chemistry, Wrocław University of Science and Technology, Smoluchowskiego 25, 50-372, Wrocław, Poland.

This paper presents the latest overview of the environmental impact of wastes from the non-ferrous metallurgical industry. Ashes, slags and dusts - by-products from mining and metal processing - are sources of toxic metals, such as Pb, Cd, Hg, As, Al, as well as particulate matter. Physical, chemical and biological processes transform industrial wastes and cause water, soil and air pollution. Read More

Waste Manag 2021 Mar 19;126:133-140. Epub 2021 Mar 19.

State Key Laboratory of Environmental Criteria and Risk Assessment, Chinese Research Academy of Environmental Sciences, Beijing 100012, PR China. Electronic address:

Persistent organic pollutants in soil are not readily degraded in the short term. The utilization of co-processing solid waste in cement kilns has received increasing attention in recent years. Co-processing may be a good way of disposing of dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane-contaminated soil (CS). Read More

Earths Future 2021 Feb;9(2)

Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Institute for Sustainability and Energy at Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, USA.

Electric vehicle (EV) adoption promises potential air pollutant and greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction co-benefits. As such, China has aggressively incentivized EV adoption, however much remains unknown with regard to EVs' mitigation potential, including optimal vehicle type prioritization, power generation contingencies, effects of Clean Air regulations, and the ability of EVs to reduce acute impacts of extreme air quality events. Here, we present a suite of scenarios with a chemistry transport model that assess the potential co-benefits of EVs during an extreme winter air quality event. Read More

J Environ Chem Eng 2021 Feb;9(1)

US Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development, Center for Environmental Solutions and Emergency Response, Cincinnati, OH 45268, USA.

Electronic waste (e-waste) generation has been growing in volume worldwide, and the diversity of its material composition is increasing. Sustainable management of this material is critical to achieving a circular-economy and minimizing environmental and public health risks. This study's objective was to investigate the use of pyrolysis as a possible technique to recover valuable materials and energy from different components of e-waste as an alternative approach for limiting their disposal to landfills. Read More

Mar Pollut Bull 2021 Mar 18;166:112236. Epub 2021 Mar 18.

Faculty of Medicine, University of Rijeka, Braće Branchetta 20, Rijeka, Croatia. Electronic address:

The aim of this work was characterization of airborne particulates in the port city of Rijeka in order to evaluate impact of ship emissions on air quality. Samples of airborne particulates were collected with a ten stages cascade impactor during two campaigns: autumn and spring. A total of 16 weekly samples were analyzed on mass concentration, ions, metals and carbonaceous species (EC, OC, WSOC). Read More

J Environ Sci (China) 2021 May 5;103:322-335. Epub 2020 Dec 5.

State Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Physics and Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100029, China; Center for Excellence in Regional Atmospheric Environment, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Science, Xiamen 361021, China; University of Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing 100049, China.

To study the pollution features and underlying mechanism of PM in Luoyang, a typical developing urban site in the central plain of China, 303 PM samples were collected from April 16 to December 29, 2015 to analyze the elements, water soluble inorganic ions, organic carbon and elemental carbon. The annual mean concentration of PM was 142.3 μg/m, and 75% of the daily PM concentrations exceeded the 75 μg/m. Read More

J Environ Sci (China) 2021 May 24;103:20-32. Epub 2020 Oct 24.

Center for Excellence in Regional Atmospheric Environment, Institute of Urban Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xiamen 361021, China; Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100085, China.

The region along the Taihang Mountains in the North China Plain (NCP) is characterized by serious fine particle pollution. To clarify the formation mechanism and controlling factors, an observational study was conducted to investigate the physical and chemical properties of the fine particulate matter in Jiaozuo city, China. Mass concentrations of the water-soluble ions (WSIs) in PM and gaseous pollutant precursors were measured on an hourly basis from December 1, 2017, to February 27, 2018. Read More

Chemosphere 2021 Mar 10;276:130174. Epub 2021 Mar 10.

Istituto di Scienze e Tecnologie per L'Energia e La Mobilità Sostenibili, STEMS-CNR, P.le Tecchio 80, 80125, Napoli, Italy.

Volatile organic compounds (VOC) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), emitted in the environment from a wide range of combustion sources, are hazardous to human health and considered important precursors of both primary and secondary particulate pollutants. In the present work, light hydrocarbons up to C, as main components of combustion-derived VOC, and PAH produced in fuel-rich conditions of premixed ethylene flames were analyzed by implementing a molecular-beam time of flight mass spectrometer (MB-TOFMS), purposely built for on-line fast monitoring of the environmental impact of combustion systems. The reliability of the MB-TOFMS was preliminarily verified on a slightly-sooting flame, comparing the results with those obtained by batch sampling and gas chromatographic techniques. Read More

Huan Jing Ke Xue 2021 Mar;42(3):1215-1227

State Key Laboratory of Atmospheric Boundary Layer Physics and Atmospheric Chemistry, Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100029, China.

In this work, the relationships between air quality and pollutant emissions were investigated during the COVID-19 pandemic in Shandong Province. During the quarantine period (from January 24 to February 7, 2020), the concentrations of atmospheric pollutants decreased significantly relative to the period before controls were imposed (from January 15 to 23, 2020). Specifically, except for an increase in the concentration of O, concentrations of PM, PM, NO, SO, and CO decreased for 72. Read More