Impact of heavy-duty diesel vehicles on air quality and control of their emissions

Abstract

Through an analysis of the characteristics of diesel vehicle emissions and motor vehicle emissions inventories, this paper examines the impact of heavy-duty diesel vehicles on air quality in China as well as issues related to the control of their emissions. Heavy-duty diesel vehicles emit large amounts of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter. Nitrogen oxides is one of the important precursors for the formation of secondary particles and ozone in the atmosphere, causing regional haze. Diesel particulate matter is a major toxic air pollutant with adverse effect on human health, and in particular, the ultrafine particles in 30-100 nm size range can pose great health risks because of its extremely small sizes. Motor vehicles have become a major source of air pollution in many metropolitan areas and city cluster in China, and among them the heavy-duty diesel vehicles are a dominant contributor of nitrogen oxides and particulate matter emissions. Hence, controlling heavy-duty diesel vehicle emissions should be a key component of an effective air quality management plan, and a number of issues related to heavy-duty diesel vehicle emissions need to be addressed.