Contribution of motor vehicle emissions to surface ozone in urban areas: A case study in Beijing

Abstract

Surface ozone (O₃) pollution, a critical environmental challenge facing government agencies at all levels, is becoming more and more serious in China, especially in rapidly developing urban areas like Beijing. However, in China, few studies have evaluated the contribution of various pollution sources to surface O₃, e.g. motor vehicles. In this paper, we combined a non-linear model with an analysis of motor vehicle emissions of NO_x and VOCs in an integrated approach to estimate the contribution of motor vehicle emissions to surface O₃. The model showed that, in urban areas of Beijing in 2000, the contribution of motor vehicle emissions to surface O₃ was 45.9%, and that elimination of 20.0% of motor vehicle emissions will lead to a 7.4% reduction in surface O₃, while elimination of 20.0% of NO_x or VOC emissions from motor vehicles will result in a 5.0% and 2.5% decline, respectively, in surface O₃. In addition, elimination of 10,000 t of NO_x from motor vehicles results in the same reduction in surface O₃ as elimination of 25,631 t of VOCs. Thus, controlling NO_x emissions from motor vehicles is an effective way to control surface O₃ pollution in the study area.

Keywords:

• SURFACE OZONE
• AIR POLLUTION
• MOTOR VEHICLE EMISSIONS
• SOURCE CONTRIBUTION
• BEIJING