Atmospheric emission inventory of hazardous air pollutants from biomass direct-fired power plants in China: Historical trends, spatial variation characteristics, and future perspectives.

Abstract The agricultural and forestry biomass direct-fired power generation represents an important technology to promote the low-carbon energy transition and agricultural waste reuse in China. In recent years, emissions of hazardous air pollutants (HAPs) caused by the rapid biomass industrialization have attracted increasing attention. To investigate the characteristics of HAPs emitted from biomass power plants in China, a multiple-year comprehensive emission inventory including NOx, SO2, PM, PM10, PM2.5, and trace elements (As, Cd, Cr, Cu, Hg, Pb, Zn) has been established for the period of 2006–2017. As a result of the emission standard (GB13223-2011), emissions of conventional HAPs have declined since 2014. The results show that national total emissions in 2017 were estimated at 29,516.0 t of NOx, 14,192.1 t of SO2, 4100.7 t of PM, 2353.9 t of PM10, 1630.6 t of PM2.5, 3057.2 kg of As, 1622.8 kg of Cd, 8285.8 kg of Cr, 54,443.4 kg of Cu, 132.9 kg of Hg, 66,325.8 kg of Pb, and 175,587.9 kg of Zn, respectively. The majority of HAPs emissions have been concentrated in eastern, northeastern, and central areas of mainland China. Shandong, Heilongjiang, and Anhui represent the top three provinces with the highest HAPs emissions from 2012 to 2017. Besides, the future emissions in 2025 and 2035 under the ultra-low emission policy are predicted with scenario analysis.