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Status and chemical characteristics of ambient PM2.5 pollutions in China: a review

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Abstract

The ambient fine particulate matter is a considerable hazard to human health and the surrounding environment of the majority of Chinese cities. This article reviews the status of air pollution, especially PM2.5, in 21 cities of China, on the basis of their status, chemical characteristics, and regulations data collected from the published literature. The observed results show Zhengzhou, Yulin, **an, Qingdao, and Changchun as significantly polluted cities where the annual mean concentration of PM2.5 was noted to be greater than 120 µg m−3. However, some cities such as **amen, Hong Kong, Shenzhen, and **chang reported average annual PM2.5 concentrations less than 40 µg m−3. In general, the results of spatial distribution reported that the cities of the east, north, and northeast China are highly polluted. According to the average mass of PM2.5 in maximum cities of China, the sum of sulfate, nitrate and ammonium (SNA) and organic matter (OM) contributed over 40 and 35%, respectively. The higher amount of SNA and OM in PM2.5 results from heavy traffic or vehicle emission and burning solid fuel utilized in most part of China. A proposed systemic approach to address the PM2.5 in China can improve the quality of ambient atmosphere.

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Acknowledgements

SG thanks the Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Marwadi University, Rajkot, Gujarat, India, for providing the required funding and research-related facilities to complete this review articles. We also thank anonymous reviewers for their suggestions to improve the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Marwadi Education Foundation’s Group of Institutions, Rajkot 360003, India

    Sneha Gautam

  2. Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, Marwadi University, Rajkot, 360003, India

    Sneha Gautam

  3. Department of Mining Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, 721302, India

    Aditya Kumar Patra

  4. Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE), University of Surrey, Guildford, GU2 7XH, UK

    Prashant Kumar

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  1. Sneha Gautam
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Correspondence to Sneha Gautam.

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Gautam, S., Patra, A.K. & Kumar, P. Status and chemical characteristics of ambient PM2.5 pollutions in China: a review. Environ Dev Sustain 21, 1649–1674 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-018-0123-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-018-0123-1

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