Volatile organic compounds in China: Characteristics, sources and contributions to O3 pollution

Technical Seminar:
Volatile organic compounds in China: Characteristics, sources and contributions to O3 pollution

Date, time & venue

20 September 2023 (Wednesday), 17:00-18:00, Seminar via Zoom Meeting

Organized by

HKIE Civil Division and The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Programme Highlight

Urban core with densely interleaved residential, commercial and transportation lands hosts intensive air pollutants emission and reaction. In recent years, photochemical ozone (O3) pollution significantly intensifies in Chinese cities. To investigate the responsible in-situ chemistry, O3 and its precursors and meteorological parameters were simultaneously measured in 10 megacities in China and at 10 sites in the Pearl River Delta region in summer. Moderate wind speeds, strong solar radiation and high temperature were observed in all cities, indicating favourable meteorological conditions for local O3 formation. The highest O3 level was found in Beijing, followed by Lanzhou and Wuhan, while relatively lower O3 value was recorded in Chengdu and Shanghai. Photochemical box model simulations revealed that net O3 production rate in Lanzhou was the largest, followed by Beijing, Wuhan and Chengdu, while it was the lowest in Shanghai. Besides, the O3 formation was mainly controlled by volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in most cities, but co-limited by VOCs and nitrogen oxides in Lanzhou. Moreover, the dominant VOC groups contributing to O3 formation were oxygenated VOCs (OVOCs) in Beijing and Wuhan, alkenes in Lanzhou, and aromatics and OVOCs in Shanghai and Chengdu. Source apportionment analysis identified six sources of O3 precursors in these cities, including liquefied petroleum gas usage, diesel exhaust, gasoline exhaust, industrial emissions, solvent usage, and biogenic emissions. Gasoline exhaust dominated the O3 formation in Beijing, and LPG usage and industrial emissions made comparable contributions in Lanzhou, while LPG usage and solvent usage played a leading role in Wuhan and Chengdu, respectively. The findings are helpful to mitigate O3 pollution in China.

Language

English

Fee

Free of Charge.

Speakers
Ir Professor Hai Guo completed his PhD study in Australia. He is currently a Professor in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). Prof. Guo is a Fellow of HKIE. Prof. Guo’s research interests include atmospheric chemistry, organic aerosols and their precursors, ozone pollution, bioaerosol transmission and indoor chemistry. He is among the first to have developed a photochemical trajectory model and a photochemical box model to understand atmospheric ozone formation in Asia. He is also the first person in Hong Kong to establish a world-class laboratory instrument system to analyse trace volatile organic compounds (VOCs). He has developed offline and semi-online samplers for measuring ambient acidic ultrafine particles. Prof. Guo is an investigator of more than 70 research projects. He has published over 180 papers, with over 10,000 citations and an h-index of 58 on Google scholar and 53 on Scopus. He has been ranked the World’s Top 2% Highly Cited Scientist in Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences in 2020-2022. Prof. Guo is the VOC expert group member of the World Meteorological Organization – Global Atmosphere Watch. Furthermore, Prof. Guo is Associate Editor of Science of the Total Environment, and Editor of Aerosol and Air Quality Research. Prof. Guo has won many prizes including a second prize of natural science issued by China’s Ministry of Education, first prize of science and technology in Guangdong province, and golden medal and a special merit award at the 71st International Trade Fair for Ideas, Inventions & New Products in Germany, and eight-time Dean awards for outstanding research and publication at PolyU. He is an executive member of Australia-China Centre for Air Quality Science and Management, and the standing committee member of The Ozone Pollution Control Professional Committee of the Chinese Society of Environmental Sciences. Prof. Guo has given plenary and invited speeches in a number of international conferences and been a member of Scientific Advisor Committee in many conferences.

Registration & Enquiries
Please complete the on-line registration at https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_aw5GWbJLR-yNY4pR50lfXw. The number of participants is limited to 500 on a first-come-first served basis. Priority will be given to members of the Civil Division.

Email registration will not be accepted. Successful applicants will be informed by email and provided a link to the Zoom Meeting at the designated time slot. Participants need to sign in using the membership no. and name entered at the time of registration. A CPD certificate will be issued 3 weeks after the seminar based on this membership no. and name.

For enquiries, please contact Mr. Alan Yan via email: alanyan@pyengineering.com.