Investigation of relevant processes of aerosol pollution in Beijing - source identification, elemental composition and bio-availability with respect to different land use types
Final Report Abstract
Since February 2005 aerosols are measured in varying intensities and at different sites. The most intense phase lasted from August 2005 to August 2007, when at five stations along a transect from North-West towards South-East Beijing PM2.5 was sampled. A comprehensive data base is available at the KIT Institute of Mineralogy and Geochemistry containing the particle masses and the related chemical composition (element concentrations, BC and TC concentrations, δ13C values, mineral phases, scanning electron microscope images, meteorological data). It was shown, that cleanest air masses occur in North-West whereas the aerosol concentrations increase towards south. NOAA Hysplit models point to the impact of supra-regional pollution sources, which affect the being air quality. Southern and Eastern regions contribute to the air pollution detected in Beijing. Aware of this problem, not only highlighted by this project, the Beijing government closed not only the industry in Beijing during the Olympic Games but also Industry in surrounding areas. No relief of air pollution can be expected during night time in Beijing. Many emission sources operate also over night such as coal combustion or domestic heating and traffic. Furthermore, heavy traffic only is allowed to enter Beijing during night to prevent traffic jams at day time. However, an important impact on the night time concentration of aerosols in Beijing can be attributed to the lowering of the mixing layer condensing the aerosol in the urban air body. The aerosol pollution at Beijing exceeds for most of the time European and US standards. But not only the fine particle concentration of PM2.5 is high, Beijing also suffers by a high concentration of coarse particles. Images made by Scanning Electron Microscopy have shown that coarse particles act as carriers for fine particles. Air pollution control normally wise starts with reducing the coarse particle concentration. During the last years beside industrial emissions and resuspension of particles from road surfaces, construction sites contributed to the amount of coarse particles in Beijing air as well as resuspension from abandoned areas. Thus, an open question still is how the fine particle mass concentration will respond when the coarse particle concentration is lowered. The geochemical approach is to express metal concentrations in aerosols also in μg/g and not only in μg/m^3. Applying the unit μg/g, it is demonstrated that the aerosol in Beijing is extremely high polluted. Further studies should investigate the consequences of particles containing several 1000 μg/g Zn or Pb on human health when inhaled. In this context, also more emphasis should be put on the health assessment of the bioavailable fraction of aerosol. This study showed that more as 50% of toxic metals in aerosols are mobile or even highly mobile, e.g. potentially bioavailable in human lungs. Mitigation measures, such as closing industries and reducing traffic had an eminent impact on the aerosol pollution in Beijing during the Olympic Games. However, mainly the coarse particle fraction was reduced. The fine particle fraction was less reduced. European and US standards could not always reached during the whole Olympic Period. In August 2008, in average around 50 μg/m^3 were monitored for PM2.5 concentrations during day and night time. Since still two sampling sites are running on the account of the KIT Institute of Mineralogy and Geochemistry and their Chinese partner Institutes, first results show that the concentration of anthropogenic particles was increasing again after the Olympic Games. Already similar black carbon concentrations to summer 2007 were reached in summer 2009. Results of this project were presented to the Chinese citizens during two exhibitions organised by the German Goethe Institute and the International Bureau of the BMBF in Shenyang (June 12 - 20 2009) and Wuhan (October 23 - 31 2009). Prior to the Olympic Games several press articles were produced about the activities of this project: 1. Der Himmel über Peking, Berliner Zeitung, 19.8.2008 2. So belastet Feinstaub unsere Sportler, RP-online, 12.8.2008 3. Feinstaubjäger in Peking, dpa Bericht von Matthias Armborst, Frankfurter Rundschau, 12.8.2008, VDI-Nachrichten 15.8.2008 4. Großes SMOG Experiment in Peking, Bayerischer Rundfunk Online, 7.8.2008 5. Für freie Sicht auf die Spiele, Informationsdienst Wissenschaft, 7.8.2008 6. Forschungsprojekt über die Staubbelastung in Peking angelaufen. UNIKATH 2/2005
Publications
- 8th Highway and Urban Environment Symposium, 12 -14 June 2006, Nikosia, Zypern. Size, morphological and chemical characterization of aerosols polluting the Beijing atmosphere during a three week period in January/February 2006
Norra, S.; Hundt, B.; Stüben, D.; Cen, K.; Liu, C ; Dietze, V ; Schultz, E.
- 2007. Size, morphological, and chemical characterization of aerosols polluting the Beijing atmosphere in January/February 2005. In: G.M. Morrison and S. Rauch (eds.), Highway and Urban Environment: Proceedings of the 8th Highway and Urban Environment, Book Series Alliance for Global Sustainability Volume 12, 167-180, Springer
Norra S, Hundt B, Stüben D, Cen K, Liu C, Dietze V, Schultz E
- 9th Highway and Urban Environment Symposium, Madrid, Spain, 9 - 11 June 2008. Assessment of the total composition of aerosols sampled at five sites in Beijing from autumn 2005 till summer 2007
Norra, S.; Schleicher, N.; Stüben, D.; Chai, F.; Chen, Y., Wang, S.
- Triple B workshop on Urban Atmospheric Pollution of Cities and Megacities, 10 - 11 October 2007; Institute of Mineralogy and Geochemistry, University of Karlsruhe. Heavy metal load of PM2.5 polluting the Beijing atmosphere
Norra, S.; Schleicher, N.; Stüben, D.; Chai, F.; Chen, Y.
- Triple B workshop on Urban Atmospheric Pollution of Cities and Megacities, October 10/11 2007; Institute of Mineralogy and Geochemistry, University of Karlsruhe. Seasonal trend of water-soluble ions at five PM2.5 sampling sites in Beijing, China
Schleicher N, Norra S, Stüben D, Fahe C, Chen Y
- 9th Highway and Urban Environment Symposium, Madrid, Spain, 9 - 11 June 2008. Water-soluble ions at five PM2.5 and one TSP sampling site in Beijing, China
Schleicher, N.; Norra, S.; Stüben, D.; Chai, F.; Chen, Y., Wang, S.
- First Sino-French Symposium on Regional and Urban Atmospheric Pollution, Beijing, China 28 - 31 October 2008. The spatio-temporal distribution of aerosol pollution of Beijing atmosphere between 2005 and 2007
Norra, S; Schleicher, N; Stüben, D; Chai, F; Chen, Y; Wang, S.
- 7th International Conference on Air Quality - Science and Application, Istanbul, 24 - 27 March, 2009. Black carbon concentrations in PM2.5 samples from Beijing, China. Proceedings of short papers presented at the 7th International Conference on Air Quality - Science and Application, Istanbul, 24-27 March, 2009. Editors: X. V. Francis, R. Khaiwal, C. Chemel, J. Newbold, S. Incecik, C. Kahya, R. S. Sokhi
Schleicher N., Norra S., Chai F., Chen Y., Wang S., Cen K., Fricker M., Stüben D.
- European Aerosol Conference 6-11 September 2009, Karlsruhe, Germany. The spatio-temporal distribution of atmospheric pollution in Beijing, China - assessment of mass and elemental concentrations of PM2.5 and TSP
Schleicher, N.; Norra, S.; Chen, Y.; Chai, F.; Cen, K.; Stüben, D.
- 10th Urban Environment Symposium (IOUES) in Gothenburg, Sweden, 9-11 June 2010. Chemical leaching as an indicator for the mobility and eco-toxicology of trace metals in urban atmospheric particulate matter
Schleicher, N.J.; Norra, S.; Chai, F.; Chen, Y.; Wang, S.; Cen, K.; Stüben, D.
- 2010. Anthropogenic versus geogenic contribution to total suspended atmospheric particulate matter and its variations during a twoyear sampling period in Beijing, China. Journal of Environmental Monitoring, 12, 434-441
Schleicher N, Norra S, Chai F, Chen Y, Wang S, Stüben D
- 2010. Assessment of aerosol concentration sampled at five sites in Beijing from 2005 till 2007. In: Rauch S., Morrison, G., Monzon A. (eds.). Highway and Urban Environment, Book Series Alliance for Global Sustainability Volume 17,133-140, Springer
Norra S, Schleicher N, Stuben D, Chai F, Chen Y, Wang S
- 2010. Seasonal trend of water-soluble tons at one TSP and five PM2.5 sampling sites in Beijing, China. In: Rauch S., Morrison, G., Monzon A. (eds.), Highway and Urban Environment, Book Series Alliance for Global Sustainability Volume 17, 87-95, Springer
Schleicher N, Norra S, Chai F, Chen Y, Wang S, Stüben D
- 2010. Study on Pollution Characteristics of PM2.5 in the Aerosol, Tracing and Tracking Atmospheric Particulates in Beijing City. Geoscience, 24(2): 345-354 (Chinese)
Chen Y., Cen K., Norra S., Schleicher N., Yang Y.
- International Aerosol Conference, Helsinki, Finland, 29 August - 3 September 2010. Elemental and mass concentrations of PM1, PM2.5 and TSP samples in Beijing, China, during the Olympic Summer Games in August 2008
Schleicher N, Norra S, Chai F, Chen Y, Wang S, Stüben D
- Workshop on Air Quality and Health in the Urban Area, Beijing, China, 17 - 18 June 2010. Enhanced methods (sequential extractions, stable carbon isotopes, μ-synchrotron XRF) to characterize the chemical composmon of atmospheric particles sampled in Beijing
Schleicher, N.; Norra, S.; Kramar, U.; Chai, F.; Chen, Y.; Wang. S.; Cen, K.; Yu, Y.; Dietze, V ; Stüben, D.
