High concentration of fine particles (PM2.5), the
primary concern about air quality in China, is believed to
closely relate to China’s large consumption of coal. In order to quantitatively identify the contributions of coal combustion in different sectors to ambient PM2.5, we developed
an emission inventory for the year 2013 using up-to-date
information on energy consumption and emission controls,
and we conducted standard and sensitivity simulations using
the chemical transport model GEOS-Chem. According to the
simulation, coal combustion contributes 22 µgm−3
(40 %) to
the total PM2.5 concentration at national level (averaged in
74 major cities) and up to 37 µgm−3
(50 %) in the Sichuan
Basin. Among major coal-burning sectors, industrial coal
burning is the dominant contributor, with a national average
contribution of 10 µgm−3
(17 %), followed by coal combustion in power plants and the domestic sector. The national average contribution due to coal combustion is estimated to be
18 µgm−3
(46 %) in summer and 28 µgm−3
(35 %) in winter. While the contribution of domestic coal burning shows
an obvious reduction from winter to summer, contributions
of coal combustion in power plants and the industrial sector
remain at relatively constant levels throughout the year.
