A high-resolution air pollutants emission inventory in 2013 for the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region, China

Abstract We developed a high-resolution Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) regional air pollutants emission inventory for the year 2013. The inventory was established using a bottom-up approach based on facility-level activity data obtained from multiple data sources. The estimates from the BTH 2013 emission inventory show that the total emissions of SO 2 , NO X , PM 2.5 , PM 10 , CO, NMVOC, NH 3 , BC, and OC were 2,305, 2,686, 1,090, 1,494, 20,567, 2,207, 623, 160, and 254 Gg, respectively. The industry sector is the largest emissions source for SO 2 , NO X , PM 2.5 , PM 10 , CO, and NMVOC in the BTH region, contributing 72.6%, 43.7%, 59.6%, 64.7%, 60.3%, and 70.4% of the total emissions, respectively. Power plants contributed 11.8% and 23.3% of the total SO 2 and NO X emissions, respectively. The transportation sector contributed 28.9% of the total NO X emissions. Emissions from the residential sector accounted for 31.3%, 21.5%, 46.6% and 71.7% of the total PM 2.5 , NMVOC, BC and OC emissions, respectively. In addition, more than 90% of the total NH 3 emissions originate from the agriculture sector, with 44.2% from fertilizer use and 47.7% from livestock. The spatial distribution results illustrate that air pollutant emissions are mainly distributed over the eastern and southern BTH regions. Beijing, Tianjin, Shijiazhuang, Tangshan and Handan are the major contributors of air pollutants. The major NMVOC species in the BTH region are ethylene, acetylene, ethane and toluene. Ethylene is the biggest contributor in Tianjin and Hebei. The largest contributor in Beijing is toluene. There is relatively low uncertainty in SO 2 and NO X emission estimates, medium uncertainty in PM 2.5 , PM 10 and CO emission estimates, and high uncertainties in VOC, NH 3 , BC and OC emission estimates. The proposed policy recommendations, based on the BTH 2013 emission inventory, would be helpful to develop strategies for air pollution control.