Impacts of power generation on air quality in China—part I: An overview

As the fast growth of China’s economy, power generation has greatly increased in past decades. Majority of power generation in China is from coal-fired power plants. Large and still increasing amount of coal combustion for power generation emits numerous pollutants into atmosphere. Combining with emissions from other sources, power generation contributes to the severe air pollution in recent years. In this study, the historic trends and current status of the impact of power generation on air quality in China are overviewed. In 2012, the power sector contributed 30% of CO2, 33% of NOx, 23% of SO2, 8% of particulate matter (PM), 3% of CO, and less than 1% of VOCs emissions in China. The power sector contributed 15% of NOx, 13% of SO2, 27% of O3, 26% of fine particulate NO3− and 22% of fine particulate SO42− ambient concentrations. Coal consumption for power generation is keeping growing. Tremendous efforts have been made to limit emissions from power generation by installing flue-gas desulphurization systems on coal-fired power plant, resulting in reduction of SO2 and PM emissions recently. However, emissions of NOx, CO2, CO, and VOCs are still increasing. Over half of the power emissions and concentrations are distributed in East and North China, which include the Yangtze River Delta and the North China Plain, the two most developed and populous regions in China. Emissions from power generation contribute significant fractions of NOx, SO2, and particulate NO3− in winter, and significant fractions of O3 and particulate SO42− in summer.