China's fuel choice : a comparative analysis of natural gas and coal

Summary of EEPSEA research report: Improving air quality in Chinese cities by substituting natural gas for coal : barriers and incentive policie

China's Fuel Choice: A Comparative Analysis of Natural Gas and Coal

China is one of the world's leading users of coal and is therefore faced with serious coal-smoke pollution in urban areas. But pressure is mounting for a solution and this can only intensify following Beijing's successful bid for the 2008 Olympic games. To find just such a solution, this study has investigated the potential for natural gas as a cleaner fuel for China's cities. The study shows that natural gas has clear environmental and economic benefits over coal. The study found that the high cost of substituting natural gas for coal was the main factor hindering the adoption of the cleaner fuel. To overcome this hurdle, the researchers recommend a number of policy recommendations that would reduce the cost of natural gas and accelerate its take-up as fuel of choice.natural gas, coal, China

Improving Air Quality in Chinese Cities by Substituting Natural Gas for Coal: Barriers and Incentive Policies

As a result of its rapid economic development and large volume of coal burning, China is faced with serious coal-smoke pollution in urban areas. In large cities such as Beijing and Chongqing, people are clearly suffering the adverse health effects of coal-smoke pollution, with PM-10 and SO2 as the main pollutants. Natural gas, although not the dominant energy source in China, is becoming one of the most attractive clean substitutes for coal. On one hand, there is widespread disagreement and doubt about the rationale for burning natural gas instead of using it as a raw material in the chemical industry. On the other hand, the economic advantages of natural gas over clean-coal technology are crucial in deciding whether to promote the use of natural gas as a fuel. This research has four goals: Firstly, it quantifies the health damage caused by air pollution, particularly coal burining, in Beijing and Chongqing. Secondly, it explores the rationale behind using natural gas for municipal (residential and commercial) energy production through two comparison studies: (a) using natural gas as clean fuel versus using it as a chemical industry raw material, and (b) using natural gas versus clean coal technology. Thirdly, it performs a cost-benefit analysis of urban natural gas substitution projects in Beijing and Chongqing. The evidence indicates that in cities with the most concentrated population and economic activity, natural gas as the municipal energy source has clear environmental benefits in reducing the concentration of non-point and low-level air pollution.Air quality, natural gas, China

Estimation and Prediction of Industrial VOC Emissions in Hebei Province, China

The study of industrial volatile organic compound (VOC) emission inventories is essential for identifying VOC emission levels and distribution. This paper established an industrial VOC emission inventory in 2015 for Hebei Province and completed an emission projection for the period 2020–2030. The results indicated that the total emissions of industrial VOCs in 2015 were 1017.79 kt. The use of VOC products accounted for more than half of the total. In addition, the spatial distribution characteristics of the industrial VOC emissions were determined using a geographic information statistics system (GIS), which showed that the VOCs were mainly distributed the central and southern regions of Hebei. Considering the future economic development trends, population changes, related environmental laws and regulations, and pollution control technology, three scenarios were defined for forecasting the industrial VOC emissions in future years. This demonstrated that industrial VOC emissions in Hebei would amount to 1448.94 kt and 2203.66 kt in 2020 and 2030, with growth rates of 42.36% and 116.51% compared with 2015, respectively. If all industrial enterprises took the control measures, the VOC emissions could be reduced by 69% in 2030. The analysis of the scenarios found that the most effective action plan was to take the best available control technologies and clean production in key industries, including the chemical medicine, coke production, mechanical equipment manufacturing, organic chemical, packaging and printing, wood adhesive, industrial and construction dye, furniture manufacturing, transportation equipment manufacturing, and crude oil processing industries

Functional Variants Identified Efficiently through an Integrated Transcriptome and Epigenome Analysis

Abstract Although genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have identified numerous genetic loci associated with complex diseases, the underlying molecular mechanisms of how these loci contribute to disease pathogenesis remain largely unknown, due to the lack of an efficient strategy to identify these risk variants. Here, we proposed a new strategy termed integrated transcriptome and epigenome analysis (iTEA) to identify functional genetic variants in non-coding elements. We considered type 2 diabetes mellitus as a model and identified a well-known diabetic risk variant rs35767 using iTEA. Furthermore, we discovered a new functional SNP, rs815815, involved in glucose metabolism. Our study provides an approach to directly and quickly identify functional genetic variants in type 2 diabetes mellitus, and this approach can be extended to study other complex diseases

Projection of the Co-Reduced Emissions of CO₂ and Air Pollutants from Civil Aviation in China

Civil aviation transport is a key area of fossil energy consumption and greenhouse gas emission, and it is also an important source of air pollutants; the emissions of these have caused severe environmental problems. In this paper, we estimated the emissions in 235 domestic civil airports, and predicted the future trends of CO2 and air pollutant emissions from civil aviation in China until 2050 under three scenarios. The co-reduced emissions of each measure were evaluated by using the co-control effects coordinate system. The results show that in 2018, the emissions of CO2, NOx, SO2, CO, PM and HC were 117.23 × 106 tons, 90.47 × 104 tons, 14.37 × 104 tons, 9 × 104 tons, 1.29 × 104 tons and 0.66 × 104 tons, respectively. CO2, NOx, SO2 and PM emissions were mainly concentrated in cruise mode, accounting for 87–93% of the total emissions; HC and CO emissions were more frequently from the LTO. Under the baseline scenario, the growth rate of air pollutant emissions will account for a greater share, from 84% in 2030 to 464% in 2050, whereas the general scenario reduces emissions by 15% and 71%, respectively, and a higher reduction of 26% and 93% is seen in the stringent scenario. Improving aviation fuels is the most significant co-reduction measure, which can reduce CO2 by 89% and 68% in 2030 and 2050, and reduce air pollutants by 86–89% and 62–65%, respectively

Low-Temperature Mechano-Chemical Rubber Reclamation Using Terpinene as a Swelling Agent to Enhance Bond-Breaking Selectivity

Common swelling agents used in the mechano-chemical rubber devulcanization process usually require high temperatures to achieve satisfactory swelling effects, which results in severe production of pollutants and reduces the selectivity of bond scissions. This work presents an environmentally friendly swelling agent, terpinene, which can swell the rubber crosslink structures at low temperatures. Both a rubber swelling experiment and a rubber reclaiming experiment with a mechano-chemical devulcanization method are conducted to explore the swelling effects of terpinene. After soaking in terpinene at 60 °C for 90 min, the length elongation of the rubber sample reaches 1.55, which is much higher than that in naphthenic oil and is comparable to that in toluene. When adding 3 phr of terpinene for every 100 phr of waste rubber during the reclaiming process, the bond scissions exhibit high selectivity. After revulcanization, the reclaimed rubbers have a tensile strength of 17 MPa and a breaking elongation of 400%. Consequently, the application of terpinene as the swelling agent in the LTMD method can greatly improve the properties of reclaimed rubbers, thereby enhancing the dual value for the economy and environment

Impact of Sea Breeze Circulation on the Transport of Ship Emissions in Tangshan Port, China

A sea breeze is a local circulation that occurs in coastal regions from the poles to the equator. The adverse influence of ship emissions on air quality in coastal areas may be aggravated by the onshore flow of sea breeze circulation. However, our knowledge regarding the evolution of ship-emitted pollutants during a specific sea breeze episode is still limited. To address this knowledge gap, this study investigated the evolution of ship emissions during a sea breeze episode that occurred on 29 June, 2014 in Tangshan port in China by employing the WRF/Chem model. NO2, one of the primary pollutants emitted by ships, was selected as the target pollutant for investigation. The results indicate that the ground level NO2 concentration was considerably affected by sea breeze circulation. Although the onset of the sea breeze was delayed until nearly midday due to offshore synoptic winds, ship-emitted NO2 was transported to more than 100 km inland with the penetration of the sea breeze. Further investigation found that the averaged concentration of ship-contributed NO2 during the episode showed an evident downward trend as the distance from the coastline increased. Vertically, the shallow atmospheric boundary layer (ABL) on the sea limited the vertical dispersion of ship emissions, and the pollutant was transported shoreward by the sea breeze within this shallow ABL. The height of the ABLs is lowered in coastal regions due to the cooling effect of sea breezes which brings the cool marine air to the hot land surface. Ship-contributed NO2 was mostly trapped in the shallow ABL; thereby, its concentration increased