Levels and Sources of PM2.5-associated PAHs during and after the Wheat Harvest in a Central Rural Area of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) Region

Impact of Wheat Harvest on Levels and Sources of PM2.5-associated PAHs in an Urban Area Located at the Center of Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Region

“…Environmental contamination has also occurred along with the process of industrialization and urbanization in the past few decades in China. In recent years, more attention has been paid to the issues with frequent occurrence of haze and photochemical smog characterized by high loadings of particulate matter and ozone (Elorduy et al, 2016;Cao et al, 2018;Li et al, 2020a and2020b). Fine particulate matter (especially PM2.5) has received widespread attention due to its negative impact on air quality and human health (Li et al, 2019a(Li et al, , 2019b.…”

“…As a class of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are widely found in the environmental mediums and always origin from incomplete incineration of coal, crop straws, garbage and the other organic substances (Xing et al, 2016;Han et al, 2019;Li et al, 2020b). They are extensively recognized as severe pollutants due to their carcinogenic and mutagenic properties with PM2.5-bound PAHs accounting for more than 80% of particle associated PAHs (Dat et al, 2018;Simayi et al, 2018).…”

“…Also PAHs possess negative impacts on the reproductive system and immune system due to their reactions with the hormone system (Garcia-Suastegui et al, 2011). The US Environmental Protection Agency and the European Union had designated 16 PAH compounds as priority pollutants considering their potential health threats to people (Li et al, 2020b).…”

“…Previous studies also reported that biomass burning, domestic coal combustion, and coke production contributed 59%, 23%, and 15% to the total PAHs, respectively in China (Zhang et al, 2007;. As the strictest air pollution control policy in China, the Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan (APPCAP; 2013 -2017) was implemented to reduce the 25% PM2.5 in main metropolitan areas by 2017 and markedly improve air quality (Zhai et al, 2019;Li et al, 2020b). PM2.5 levels accordingly decreased by 30 -50% on a national scale although there was still the certain gap with the threshold value designated by China Air Quality Standard Grade I.…”

“…PM2.5 levels accordingly decreased by 30 -50% on a national scale although there was still the certain gap with the threshold value designated by China Air Quality Standard Grade I. "Three Years Action Plan to Win the Blue Sky Defense War" (TYAP) putting forward "Clean Heating" in north China was launched in 2017 (Li et al, 2020b). "Coal Removal Campaign", "Prohibition of Biomass Burning", "Traffic Limitation", "Ultra Low Emission Standard for Industrial Enterprises" and so on had rooted in APPCAP and TYAP (Zhai et al, 2019).…”