Emission Variations of Primary Air Pollutants from Highway Vehicles and Implications during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Beijing, China

Xizi Cao, Ye Tian, Yan Shen, Tongran Wu, Renfei Li, Xinyu Liu, Amanzheli Yeerken, Yangyang Cui, Yifeng Xue and Aiping Lian
Additional contact information
Xizi Cao: National Engineering Research Center of Urban Environmental Pollution Control, Beijing Municipal Research Institute of Environmental Protection, Beijing 100037, China
Ye Tian: Beijing Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau, Beijing 100048, China
Yan Shen: National Engineering Research Center of Urban Environmental Pollution Control, Beijing Municipal Research Institute of Environmental Protection, Beijing 100037, China
Tongran Wu: National Engineering Research Center of Urban Environmental Pollution Control, Beijing Municipal Research Institute of Environmental Protection, Beijing 100037, China
Renfei Li: National Engineering Research Center of Urban Environmental Pollution Control, Beijing Municipal Research Institute of Environmental Protection, Beijing 100037, China
Xinyu Liu: National Engineering Research Center of Urban Environmental Pollution Control, Beijing Municipal Research Institute of Environmental Protection, Beijing 100037, China
Amanzheli Yeerken: National Engineering Research Center of Urban Environmental Pollution Control, Beijing Municipal Research Institute of Environmental Protection, Beijing 100037, China
Yangyang Cui: National Engineering Research Center of Urban Environmental Pollution Control, Beijing Municipal Research Institute of Environmental Protection, Beijing 100037, China
Yifeng Xue: National Engineering Research Center of Urban Environmental Pollution Control, Beijing Municipal Research Institute of Environmental Protection, Beijing 100037, China
Aiping Lian: Beijing Municipal Ecology and Environment Bureau, Beijing 100048, China

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 18, issue 8, 1-12

Abstract: According to the traffic flow variation from January 2019 to August 2020, emissions of primary air pollutants from highway vehicles were calculated based on the emission factor method, which integrated the actual structure of on-road vehicles. The characteristics of on-highway traffic flow and pollution emissions were compared during various progression stages of coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The results showed that the average daily traffic volume decreased by 38.2% in 2020, with a decrease of 62% during the strict lockdown due to the impact of COVID-19. The daily emissions of primary atmospheric pollutants decreased by 29.2% in 2020 compared to the same period in 2019. As for the structure of on-highway vehicle types, the small and medium-sized passenger vehicles predominated, which accounted for 76.3% of traffic, while trucks and large passenger vehicles accounted for 19.7% and 4.0%, but contributed 58.4% and 33.9% of nitrogen oxide (NO x ) emissions, respectively. According to the simulation results of the ADMS model, the average concentrations of NO x were reduced by 12.0 µg/m 3 compared with the same period in 2019. As for the implication for future pollution control, it is necessary to further optimize the structure of on-highway and the road traffic vehicle types and increase the proportions of new-energy vehicles and vehicles with high emission standards.

Keywords: highway; coronavirus disease (COVID-19); emission variation; traffic flow (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/8/4019/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/18/8/4019/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:8:p:4019-:d:534236

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().