Liqian Yin

Characteristics and sources of atmospheric mercury speciation in a coastal city, Xiamen, China

Semi-continental monitoring of gaseous elemental mercury (GEM), particulate mercury (Hgp), and reactive gaseous mercury (RGM) was conducted in the Institute of Urban Environment, CAS in Xiamen, China from March 2012 to February 2013. The average concentrations and relative standard deviations (RSD) were 3.50 (34.6%) ng m(-3), 174.41 (160.9%) pg m(-3), and 61.05 (113.7%) pg m(-3) for GEM, Hgp, and RGM, respectively. The higher concentrations of GEM and Hgp were observed in spring and winter months, indicating the combustion source, while RGM showed the different seasonal variation with highest concentration in spring and the minimum value in winter. The concentrations of Hg species were generally elevated in nighttime and low in daytime to reflect the diurnal changes in meteorology, especially the mixing condition of the air masses. The high Hg concentrations were observed in SWW-NW sectors due to calm wind while the low levels in NE-SE due to high speed wind, and the amplitude was much larger for Hgp and RGM. Backward trajectories calculation indicated that summer air masses were much more from ocean with lower Hg while the air masses were mainly from inland area in other seasons. Principal component analysis suggested that combustion and road traffic emissions were the dominant anthropogenic mercury sources for the study area, and the temporal distribution of atmospheric mercury was mainly the result of climatological change.

Spatial distribution and sources identification of elements in PM2.5 among the coastal city group in the Western Taiwan Strait region, China

The main purpose of this study was to investigate the spatial variations of 20 elements (Al, Si, Ti, Ca, Fe, Mg, Cr, Mn, Ni, P, S, K, Cu, Cl, V, Se, Br, As, Zn, and Pb) in PM(2.5) (particle matters ≤ 2.5 μm in aerodynamic diameter) in the coastal city group in the Western Taiwan Strait (WTS) region, China during spring 2011. The average PM(2.5) mass concentration at 13 sites was 77.0 μg/m(3) and the elemental fraction accounted for about 10-20%. Multivariate analyses (principal component analysis and cluster analysis) and a correlation matrix were used to identify the sources of elements in PM(2.5). The results revealed that the elements originated mainly from traffic emissions, coal combustion, pyrometallurgical processes, and crustal sources. Spatially, the concentrations of elements were generally higher in several rapidly growing locations, and the enrichment factors (EFs) for most elements were much higher at the northern sites than those at the southern sites, suggesting that the air quality in the northern part of the study area was strongly affected by anthropogenic activity. Backward wind trajectory analysis during the sampling period indicated that the concentrations of elements in PM(2.5) in the WTS region were greatly impacted by dust particles transported from Northern China in spring.

Source contributions to carbonaceous species in PM2.5 and their uncertainty analysis at typical urban, peri-urban and background sites in southeast China.

Determination of (14)C and levoglucosan can provide insights into the quantification of source contributions to carbonaceous aerosols, yet there is still uncertainty on the partitioning of organic carbon (OC) into biomass burning OC (OCbb) and biogenic emission OC (OCbio). Carbonaceous species, levoglucosan and (14)C in PM2.5 were measured at three types of site in southeast China combined with Latin hypercube sampling, with the objectives to study source contributions to total carbon (TC) and their uncertainties, and to evaluate the influence of levoglucosan/OCbb ratios on OCbb and OCbio partitioning. It was found reliably that fossil fuel combustion is the main contributor (62.90-72.23%) to TC at urban and peri-urban sites. Biogenic emissions have important contribution (winter, 52.98%; summer, 45.71%) to TC at background site. With the increase in levoglucosan/OCbb ratios, the contribution of OCbio is increased while OCbb is decreased in a pattern of approximate natural logarithm at a given range.

Characterization of mercury in atmospheric particulate matter in the southeast coastal cities of China

Although present in a low concentration in the atmosphere, mercury in particulate matter (PHg) plays an important role in the biogeochemical process of mercury. In this study, the mercury concentrations in three size fractions of airborne particulate matters collected from 14 sites (12 urban sites, 1 rural site and 1 remote site) in the southeast coastal cities of China during different seasons in 2010–2011 were investigated. Most of PHg (46.8–71.9%) was concentrated in the finer particles, i.e. PM2.5 (particulate matter ≤2.5 µm in aerodynamic diameter). The average mercury concentrations in PM2.5 were 141.2±128.1 (range of 7.6–956.5), 37.0±19.2 (5.6–89.4), and 24.0±14.6 (3.2– 59.9) pg m–3 at urban, rural, and remote sites during the whole sampling period, respectively. The PHg concentrations were almost at the same level in spring, autumn, and winter, approximately two times of that in summer. PHg concentrations in the atmosphere displayed a significant spatial variation with far higher values in urban areas than those at rural and remote sites. The dry deposition fluxes of total PHg estimated by a theoretical model were 38.3, 47.7, and 58.7 µg m–2 y–1 at Ji’an (JA), Jimei (JM), and Longwen (LW), respectively. The backward air trajectory analysis revealed that the atmospheric PHg concentrations were mainly influenced by air masses from ocean sources that diluted PHg in summer and on contrary from continental sources in other seasons.

Deactivation mechanism and feasible regeneration approaches for the used commercial NH3-SCR catalysts

ABSTRACT The deactivation and regeneration of selective catalytic reduction catalysts which have been used for about 37,000 h in a coal power plant are studied. The formation of Al2(SO4)3, surface deposition of K, Mg and Ca are primary reasons for the deactivation of the studied Selective catalytic reduction catalysts. Other factors such as activated V valence alteration also contribute to the deactivation. Reactivation of used catalysts via environment-friendly and finance-feasibly approaches, that is, dilute acid or alkali solution washing, would be of great interest. Three regeneration pathways were studied in the present work, and dilute nitric acid or sodium hydroxide solution could remove most of the contaminants over the catalyst surface and partly recover the catalytic performance. Notably, the acid–alkali combination washing, namely, catalysts treated by dilute sodium hydroxide and nitric acid solutions orderly, was much more effective than single washing approach in recovering the activity, and NO conversion increased from 23.6% to 89.5% at 380°C. The higher removal efficiency of contaminants, the lower dissolution of activated V, and promoting the formation of polymeric vanadate should be the main reason for recovery of the activity.

Quantification, morphology and source of humic acid, kerogen and black carbon in offshore marine sediments from Xiamen Gulf, China

Three types of macromolecular organic matters (MOMs), i.e. humic acid (HA), kerogen+black carbon (KB), and black carbon (BC) were extracted from marine sediments of Xiamen Gulf, southeast of China. The chemical composition, morphological property and source of the three extractions were characterized by elemental analyzer/isotope ratio mass spectrometry (EA/IRMS) and scanning electron microscope (SEM). The results showed that KB was the predominant fraction in MOMs, which accounted for 61.79%-89.15% of the total organic content (TOC), while HA consisted less than 5%. The relative high contents of kerogen and BC, and low contents of HA in the samples indicated that anthropogenic input might be the major source of organic matter in marine sediments near the industrial regions. The characterization of SEM, not only revealed morphological properties of the three fractions, but also allowed a better understanding of the source of MOMs. The delta13C values of the three fractions suggested that materials from terrestrial C3 plants were predominant. Furthermore, the anthropogenic activities, such as the discharge of sewage, coal and biomass combustion from industry nearby and agricultural practices within drainage basin of the Jiulong River, were remarkably contributed to the variations in delta13C values of MOMs in the offshore marine sediments.

Application of the Environmental Internet of Things on monitoring PM2.5 at a coastal site in the urbanizing region of southeast China

Particulate matter pollution, nowadays, is one of the most concerning environmental problems in Chinese cities, and yet monitoring of PM2.5 (aerodynamic diameter of particle ≤2.5 μm) by means of Environmental Internet of Things (EIoT) is still limited in the urbanizing regions in China. A real-time 1 year continuous observation of PM2.5 by EIoT was carried out at a coastal site in Xiamen City during 2012, with the objective to explore the temporal variations and possible sources of PM2.5 in this urbanizing region. The annual average PM2.5 mass concentration was 32.7 ± 9.6 μg m−3, with the highest level in spring (43.6 ± 5.0 μg m−3) and lowest in summer (21.0 ± 2.5 μg m−3). The mean diurnal pattern of PM2.5 mass concentrations had an obvious morning peak and low values from midnight to dawn. Additionally, the concentrations on workdays were clearly higher in contrast to those on weekends. These results indicate that particulate matter in this region is mainly influenced by anthropogenic activities, and could be effectively scavenged by precipitation. Pollution rise suggested that particulate matters were mainly from civil engineering during the construction of new urban area. A distinct characteristic of particulate matters in this urbanizing region was the low ratio (0.40) of PM2.5/PM10, which might result from the increment of coarse particles emission from freeways, construction, and sea spray. The outcomes also show that EIoT technology is convenient for the management of particulate matter pollution.