Emission of a Persistent Organic Pollutant in an East Asian Country

The sources and total emissions of 16 PAHs in China were studied. The total PAH emissions in China showed a decreasing trend between 2014 and 2020, from 39236.15 tons in 2014 to 35211.01 tons, with a 10.26% reduction in total emissions. During 2014-2020, household coal combustion has been as the largest emission source of PAHs, followed by coking and gasoline. In contrast, natural gas, as a clean energy source, has the highest pollutant emissions as a percentage of total emissions in the year 2020 with the highest percentage of only 1.36% under the same energy supply conditions. With 2019 as the key study year, PAH emissions are mainly low molecular weight, accounting for 65.85% of the total emissions. PAHs with biogenic carcinogenicity accounted for 19.22% of the total emissions. Dividing China into eight different economic zones according to the economy, the eastern provinces region topped the list of eight economic zones in terms of PAH emissions from open burning of straw due to low straw utilization, with 331.631 tons of emissions, while the lowest emissions from open burning of crop straw were from the Great Northwest region, with only 28.103 tons