Emission inventory of primary pollutants and chemical speciation in 2010 for the Yangtze River Delta region, China

We developed a high-resolution emission inventory of primary air pollutants for Yangtze River Delta (YRD) region, which included Shanghai plus 24 cities in the provinces of Jiangsu and Zhejiang. The emissions of SO2, NOX, PM10, PM2.5, NMVOCs and NH3 in the year of 2010 were estimated as 2147 kt, 2776 kt, 1006 kt, 643 kt, 3822 kt and 1439 kt, respectively. Power plants are the largest emission sources for SO2 and NOX, which contributes 44.1% and 37.3% of total SO2 and NOX emissions. Emissions from industrial process accounted for 26.9%, 28.9% and 33.7% of the total PM10, PM2.5 and NMVOCs respectively. Besides, 37.3% of NMVOCs emissions were contributed by solvent use. Livestock and fertilizer application contribute over 90% of NH3 emissions. High emission densities are visible in Shanghai and the area around Tai Lake. This emission inventory includes the speciation of PM2.5 for the YRD region for the first time, which is important to source apportionment and secondary-pollution analysis. In 2010, emissions of three major PM2.5 species, namely OC, EC and sulfate, are 136.9 kt, 75.0 kt and 76.2 kt, respectively. Aromatics and alkanes are the main NMVOC species, accounting for 30.4% and 20.3% of total VOCs. Non-road transportation and biomass burning were main uncertain sources because of a lack of proper activity and emission factor data. Compared with other pollutants, NMVOCs and NH3 have higher uncertainty. From 2000 to 2010, emissions of all pollutants have changed significantly, suggesting that the newly updated and high-resolution emission inventory will be useful for the identification of air pollution sources in YRD.