Trends and Challenges Regarding the Source-Specific Health Risk of PM2.5-Bound Metals in a Chinese Megacity from 2014 to 2020

Identifying the health risk of PM2.5 is essential for urban air pollution control. In 2013, China announced the ever-strict national Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan, and its health benefit should be evaluated to provide reference for future policymaking. In this study, we conducted...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Environmental science & technology 2022-06, Vol.56 (11), p.6996-7005
Main Authors: Yan, Run-Hua, Peng, Xing, Lin, Weiwei, He, Ling-Yan, Wei, Feng-Hua, Tang, Meng-Xue, Huang, Xiao-Feng
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Air pollution
Air pollution control
Air quality
Anthropogenic Impacts on the Atmosphere
Cadmium
Carcinogens
Chromium
Electric vehicles
Emissions
Health risk assessment
Health risks
Industrial emissions
Megacities
Metal concentrations
Metals
Outdoor air quality
Particulate matter
Pollution abatement
Pollution control
Pollution prevention
Risk assessment
Risk levels
Vehicle emissions
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Summary:Identifying the health risk of PM2.5 is essential for urban air pollution control. In 2013, China announced the ever-strict national Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan, and its health benefit should be evaluated to provide reference for future policymaking. In this study, we conducted a seven-year (2014–2020) continuous observation of PM2.5 in Shenzhen, the third largest city in China, which has relatively good air quality. The results showed that the annual mean PM2.5 and total concentration of 21 associated metals dropped from 37.7 to 18.5 μg/m3 and from 2.4 to 1.1 μg/m3, respectively. Combining methods for source apportionment and health risk assessment, we found that the total carcinogenic risk (CR) of five hazardous metals (Cd, Cr, Ni, Co, and Pb) showed a clear decreasing trend. However, the total CR (1.8 × 10–6) in 2020 still exceeded the widely acceptable risk level (i.e., 1 × 10–6), with the primary contributor changing from industrial emissions (61%) to vehicle emissions (63%). Further analysis indicated that the CR of vehicles mainly came from Cr and Ni released by braking and tire wearing and has fluctuated in recent years, highlighting a great challenge of controlling nonexhaust emissions of vehicles (including electric cars) in the future.
ISSN:0013-936X
1520-5851
DOI:10.1021/acs.est.1c06948