Reducing Soil-Emitted Nitrous Acid As a Feasible Strategy for Tackling Ozone Pollution

Overview

Journal Environ Sci Technol

Publisher American Chemical Society

Specialty Environmental Health

Date 2024 May 16

PMID 38751196

Authors

Chaoyang Xue

Can Ye

Keding Lu

Pengfei Liu

Chenglong Zhang

Hang Su

Fengxia Bao

Yafang Cheng

Wenjie Wang

Yuhan Liu

Valery Catoire

Zhuobiao Ma

Xiaoxi Zhao

Yifei Song

Xuefei Ma

Max R McGillen

Abdelwahid Mellouki

Yujing Mu

Yuanhang Zhang

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Severe ozone (O) pollution has been a major air quality issue and affects environmental sustainability in China. Conventional mitigation strategies focusing on reducing volatile organic compounds and nitrogen oxides (NO) remain complex and challenging. Here, through field flux measurements and laboratory simulations, we observe substantial nitrous acid (HONO) emissions () enhanced by nitrogen fertilizer application at an agricultural site. The observed significantly improves model performance in predicting atmospheric HONO and leads to regional O increases by 37%. We also demonstrate the significant potential of nitrification inhibitors in reducing emissions of reactive nitrogen, including HONO and NO, by as much as 90%, as well as greenhouse gases like nitrous oxide by up to 60%. Our findings introduce a feasible concept for mitigating O pollution: reducing soil HONO emissions. Hence, this study has important implications for policy decisions related to the control of O pollution and climate change.

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