Wu Qingru, Han Licong, Li Shengyue, Wang Shuxiao, Cong Yan, Liu Kaiyun, Lei Yu, Zheng Haotian, Li Guoliang, Cai Bofeng, Hao Jiming
State Key Joint Laboratory of Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China.
State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Sources and Control of Air Pollution Complex, Beijing 100084, China.
Environ Sci Technol. 2023 Mar 21;57(11):4504-4512. doi: 10.1021/acs.est.2c07704. Epub 2023 Mar 6.
Boilers involve ∼60% of primary energy consumption in China and emit more air pollutants and CO than any other infrastructures. Here, we established a nationwide, facility-level emission data set considering over 185,000 active boilers in China by fusing multiple data sources and jointly using various technical means. The emission uncertainties and spatial allocations were significantly improved. We found that coal-fired power plant boilers were not the most emission-intensive boilers with regard to SO, NO, PM, and mercury but emitted the highest CO. However, biomass- and municipal waste-fired combustion, regarded as zero-carbon technologies, emitted a large fraction of SO, NO, and PM. Future biomass or municipal waste mixing in coal-fired power plant boilers can make full use of the advantages of zero-carbon fuel and the pollution control devices of coal-fired power plants. We identified small-size boilers, medium-size boilers using circulating fluidized bed boilers, and large-size boilers located in China's coal mine bases as the main high emitters. Future focuses on high-emitter control can substantially mitigate the emissions of SO by 66%, NO by 49%, PM by 90%, mercury by 51%, and CO by 46% at the most. Our study sheds light on other countries wishing to reduce their energy-related emissions and thus the related impacts on humans, ecosystems, and climates.
在中国，锅炉消耗的一次能源约占60%，其排放的空气污染物和一氧化碳比其他任何基础设施都要多。在此，我们通过融合多个数据源并联合使用各种技术手段，建立了一个覆盖全国、基于设施层面的排放数据集，该数据集涵盖了中国18.5万多台在用锅炉。排放不确定性和空间分配得到了显著改善。我们发现，就二氧化硫、氮氧化物、颗粒物和汞而言，燃煤电厂锅炉并非排放强度最大的锅炉，但一氧化碳排放量最高。然而，被视为零碳技术的生物质和城市垃圾燃烧排放了很大一部分二氧化硫、氮氧化物和颗粒物。未来在燃煤电厂锅炉中混合生物质或城市垃圾，可以充分利用零碳燃料的优势以及燃煤电厂的污染控制设备。我们确定小型锅炉、采用循环流化床锅炉的中型锅炉以及位于中国煤矿基地的大型锅炉是主要的高排放源。未来对高排放源的控制最多可大幅减少66%的二氧化硫排放、49%的氮氧化物排放、90%的颗粒物排放、51%的汞排放以及46%的一氧化碳排放。我们的研究为其他希望减少能源相关排放以及由此对人类、生态系统和气候产生的相关影响的国家提供了启示。
