Atmospheric emissions of Fe-containing nanoparticles from industrial activities

Qiuting Yang; Lili Yang; Lingna Zheng; Hao Fang; Xue Li; Haogang Liu; Changzhi Chen; Jianghui Yun; Chenyan Zhao; Meng Wang; Guorui Liu; Minghui Zheng

doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.177840

Atmospheric emissions of Fe-containing nanoparticles from industrial activities

Sci Total Environ. 2024 Dec 20:957:177840. doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.177840. Epub 2024 Dec 3.

Authors

Qiuting Yang¹, Lili Yang², Lingna Zheng³, Hao Fang³, Xue Li³, Haogang Liu³, Changzhi Chen⁴, Jianghui Yun¹, Chenyan Zhao⁴, Meng Wang⁵, Guorui Liu⁶, Minghui Zheng⁶

Affiliations

¹ State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
² State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China. Electronic address: llyang@rcees.ac.cn.
³ CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
⁴ University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; School of Environment, Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, UCAS, Hangzhou 310024, China.
⁵ CAS Key Laboratory for Biomedical Effects of Nanomaterials and Nanosafety, Institute of High Energy Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China. Electronic address: wangmeng@ihep.ac.cn.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Environmental Chemistry and Ecotoxicology, Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, P.O. Box 2871, Beijing 100085, China; University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China; School of Environment, Hangzhou Institute for Advanced Study, UCAS, Hangzhou 310024, China.

PMID: 39631344
DOI: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.177840

Abstract

Air inhalation of exogenous Fe-containing nanoparticles (NPs) can lead to their occurrence in human organs. Comprehensive recognition on unintentional releases of Fe-containing NPs from ongoing large industrial activities is urgently required for sustainable human health. Here, we quantified Fe-containing NPs emissions in fine particulate matter collected from 132 full-scale industrial plants belong to 13 industrial categories. For the 13 investigated industries, most particles had a diameter of <80 nm. The sources with the highest Fe-containing NPs concentrations were hazardous waste incineration (1.4 × 10¹² particles/g), followed by blast furnace production of pig iron (6.2 × 10¹¹ particles/g) and electric-arc furnace steelmaking (4.7 × 10¹¹ particles/g). The annual total atmospheric emission of Fe-containing NPs from the 13 industries in China was 1.03 × 10²⁴ particles. Emissions of Fe-containing NPs from the 13 industries contribute to elevated concentrations of these particles in the atmosphere surrounding factories, potentially posing health risks to the general population. Coal-fired power plants, cement kiln co-processing of solid waste, blast furnace production of pig iron, coking plants, iron-ore sintering, electric-arc furnace steelmaking, and hazardous waste incineration collectively contributed to 99.9 % of the total annual atmospheric emissions from the 13 industries. These results are important for evaluating emissions and enhancing the sustainability of global industrial development.

Keywords: Atmosphere emissions; Emission factor; Fe-containing nanoparticles; Industrial contributor; Particle number concentrations.