Atmospheric Pollution Impact Assessment of Brick and Tile Industry: A Case Study of Xinmi City in Zhengzhou, China

The brick and tile industry was selected to investigate the impact of pollutants emitted from such industry on air quality. Based on the 2018 Zhengzhou City Census data and combined with field sampling and research visits, an emission inventory of the brick and tile industry in Xinmi City was established using the emission factor method. Based on the established emission inventory, the concentrations of SO 2 , NO X , and PM 2.5 emitted by 31 brick and tile enterprises were then predicted using the CALPUFF model (California puff model, USEPA), which had been evaluated for accuracy, and the simulation results were compared with the observed results to obtain the impact of pollutant emissions from the brick and tile industry on air pollution in the simulated region. Results show that SO 2 , NO X , and PM 2.5 emissions from the brick and tile industry in the study area in 2018 were 564.86 tons, 513.16 tons, and 41.01 tons, respectively. The CALPUFF model can simulate the characteristics of meteorological changes and pollutant concentration trends, and the correlation coefficient of the fit curve between the pollutant observed data and the simulated data was higher than 0.8, which can reproduce the impact of key industrial point sources on air quality well. The simulated concentration values and spatial and temporal distribution characteristics of SO 2 , NO X , PM 2.5 in spring, summer, autumn, and winter were obtained from the model simulations. The contribution of pollutant emissions from the brick and tile industry to the monthly average concentrations of SO 2 , NO X , and PM 2.5 in the simulated region were 6.58%, 5.38%, and 1.42%, respectively, with the Housing Administration monitoring station as the receptor point. The brick and tile industry should increase the emission control measures of SO 2 and NO X , and at the same time, the emission control of PM 2.5 cannot be slackened.