Impact of Beijing's "Coal to Electricity" program on ambient PM_2.5 and the associated reactive oxygen species (ROS)

The Beijing "Coal to Electricity" program provides a unique opportunity to explore air quality impacts by replacing residential coal burning with electrical appliances. In this study, the atmospheric ROS (Gas-phase ROS and Particle-phase ROS, abbreviated to G-ROS and P-ROS) were measured by an online instrument in parallel with concurrent PM2.5 sample collections analyzed for chemical composition and cellular ROS in a baseline year (Coal Use Year-CUY) and the first year following implementation of the "Coal to Electricity" program (Coal Ban Year-CBY). The results showed PM2.5 concentrations had no significant difference between the two sampling periods, but the activities of G-ROS, P-ROS, and cellular ROS in CBY were 8.72 nmol H2O2/m(3), 9.82 nmol H2O2/m(3), and 2045.75 mu g UD /mg PM higher than in CUY.Six sources were identified by factor-analysis from the chemical components of PM2.5. Secondary sources (SECs) were the dominant source of PM2.5 in the two periods, with 15.90% higher contribution in CBY than in CUY. Industrial Emission & Coal Combustion sources (Ind. & CCs), mainly from regional transport, also increased significantly in CBY. The contributions of Aged Sea Salt & Residential Burning sources to PM2.5 decreased 5.31% from CUY to CBY. The correlation results illustrated that Ind. & CCs had significant positive correlations with atmospheric ROS, and SECs significantly associated with cellular ROS, especially nitrates (r = 0.626, p = 0.000). Therefore, the implementation of the "Coal to Electricity" program reduced PM2.5 contributions from coal and biomass combustion, but had little effect on the improvement of atmospheric and cellular ROS.(c) 2023 The Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences. Published by Elsevier B.V.