Increase in NOx Emissions from Indian Thermal Power Plants during 1996鈥?010: Unit-Based Inventories and Multisatellite Observations

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• 作者：Zifeng Lu ; David G. Streets
• 刊名：Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T)
• 出版年：2012
• 出版时间：July 17, 2012
• 年：2012
• 卷：46
• 期：14
• 页码：7463-7470
• 全文大小：578K
• 年卷期：v.46,no.14(July 17, 2012)
• ISSN：1520-5851

文摘

Driven by rapid economic development and growing electricity demand, NO_x emissions (E) from the power sector in India have increased dramatically since the mid-1990s. In this study, we present the NO_x emissions from Indian public thermal power plants for the period 1996鈥?010 using a unit-based methodology and compare the emission estimates with the satellite observations of NO₂ tropospheric vertical column densities (TVCDs) from four spaceborne instruments: GOME, SCIAMACHY, OMI, and GOME-2. Results show that NO_x emissions from Indian power plants increased by at least 70% during 1996鈥?010. Coal-fired power plants, NO_x emissions from which are not regulated in India, contribute 96% to the total power sector emissions, followed by gas-fired (4%) and oil-fired (<1%) ones. A number of isolated NO₂ hot spots are observed over the power plant areas, and good agreement between NO₂ TVCDs and NO_x emissions is found for areas dominated by power plant emissions. Average NO₂ TVCDs over power plant areas were continuously increasing during the study period. We find that the ratio of 螖E/E to 螖TVCD/TVCD changed from greater than one to less than one around 2005鈥?008, implying that a transition of the overall NO_x chemistry occurred over the power plant areas, which may cause significant impact on the atmospheric environment.