Emission and spatialized health risks for trace elements from domestic coal burning in China

Residential coal combustion (RCC) emission exhibited obvious daily variation, while no real-time estimation of air pollutants from RCC has been reported, as the shortages of corresponding activity dataset and emission factors with high time resolution. A real-time monitoring platform for RCC emission was established. Hourly emission factors of 18 typed of TEs from eleven kinds of chunk coals and nine kinds of honeycomb coals burning in China were obtained. The monthly and hourly coal consumption amounts were calculated with reference and our field survey. Then the hourly TEs emission inventories from RCC were established in China. GEOS-Chem and Risk Quotients Models were utilized to map the spatialized health risks of hazardous elements, including the gridded hazard index and carcinogenic risk. The result indicated that the EFs of TEs would be underestimated if the tests only consider flaming conditions. Cu, K, Ca, Zn, and Co were the top five elements from RCC, with corresponding emission amounts as 1397.7, 1054.0, 676.0, 623.5 and 420 tons in 2017, respectively. K, Ti, Fe, Sn, and Sb showed hourly peak values under flaming dominated periods, accounting for 48.2%, 45.9%, 31.8%, 42.8%, and 33.8% of their daily emissions. Other elements (e.g., V, Co, As, Hg and Pb) exhibited higher emissions under smoldering dominated period in nighttime, accounting for 22.2%, 32.9%, 27.6%, 34.7%, and 28.4% of their daily emissions. TEs emission from RCC closely follows the habits of human daily cooking and heating activity. The national HI were lower than the acceptable level (HI <= 1) except Sichuan Province (up to 1.2). Higher carcinogenic risks (>= 1 x 10(-6)) occurred in parts of Sichuan, Shanxi, Hunan and Hubei, which were up to 2.0 x 10(-5). The high-resolution TEs emission inventories could be useful for future modeling works on the formation and evolution of air pollution and are helpful for human exposure assessment.

Automated summary

A real-time monitoring platform for residential coal combustion emission was established, providing hourly emission factors for 18 types of TEs from different types of coals burned in China. The study found that the emission of TEs is influenced by combustion conditions, with some elements showing higher emissions during nighttime burning.