Impacts of the COVID-19 Event on the NOx Emissions of Key Polluting Enterprises in China

Overview

Journal Appl Energy

Date 2020 Nov 2

PMID 33132478

Citations 15

Authors

Chao He

Lu Yang

Bofeng Cai

Qingyuan Ruan

Song Hong

Zhen Wang

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

The unprecedented cessation of human activities during the COVID-19 pandemic has affected China's industrial production and NOx emissions. Quantifying the changes in NOx emissions resulting from COVID-19 and associated governmental control measures is crucial to understanding its impacts on the environment. Here, we divided the research timeframe into three periods: the normal operation period (P1), the Spring Festival period (P2), and the epidemic period following the Spring Festival (P3). We then calculated the NOx operating vent numbers and emission concentrations of key polluting enterprises in 29 provinces and 20 industrial sectors and compared the data for the same periods in 2020 and 2019 to obtain the impacts of COVID-19 on industrial NOx emissions. We found that spatially, from P1 to P2 in 2020, the operating NOx vent numbers in North China changed the most, with a relative change rate of -33.84%. Comparing the operating vent numbers in P1 and P3, East China experienced the largest decrease, approximately -32.72%. Among all industrial sectors, the mining industry, manufacturing industry, power, heat, gas, and water production and supply industry, and the wholesale and retail industry, were the most heavily influenced. In general, the operating vent numbers of key polluting enterprises in China decreased by 24.68%, and the standardized NOx () decreased by an average of -9.54 ± -6.00 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The results suggest that COVID-19 significantly reduced the NOx emission levels of the key polluting enterprises in China.

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