Interactive comment on “ Gasoline aromatic : a critical determinant of urban secondary organic aerosol formation ” by Jianfei
The authors presented the contribution of gasoline vehicle exhaust to SOA formation in urban atmosphere. The manuscript indicated the importance of the vehicular gasoline compositions and clarified the principal problem of vehicular emissions for haze pollution in China. However, in your literature review, the authors missed some new findings. E. g. Tang et al. (2015) illustrated the differences of gasoline compositions between China and USA and found alkenes and aromatics in China were 4.9% and 9.6% higher than that in USA, respectively. After a while, they also found mortality was correlated with vehicular emissions in Beijing (Tang et al., 2017). Therefore, I suggest the authors discuss these new findings on the chemical compositions of gasoline and the relationship between vehicular emissions and human health, which can emphasize the motivation of this study. C1
Organic composition of gasoline and its potential effects on air pollution in North China
When gasoline is burned to power an automotive engine, a portion of the fuel remains unburned or is partially burned and leaves the engine as hydrocarbon and oxygenated compounds. In addition, a small portion of the fuel can escape the vehicle through evaporation. Changes in alkanes, olefins and aromatics each affect emissions differently, which could complicate control strategies for air pollution. In this study, we collected 31 gasoline samples over five provinces and cities (Beijing, Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, and Shaanxi) in North China between 2012 and 2013. The organic composition of the gasoline samples was analyzed using the gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) method, and the aniline compounds were analyzed by solvent extraction and the GC-MS method. The ratios of alkanes, aromatics, olefins and other organic compounds in gasoline were 40.6%, 38.1%, 12.9% and 8.4%, respectively. The aromatic and benzene exceedances were 15 and 8 based on the China’s gasoline standards (III), and they accounted for 48.4% and 25.8% of all the gasoline samples, respectively. Strong carcinogen aniline compounds were detected in all 31 samples, and the content of aniline compounds in 3 samples exceeded 1%. The high proportion of aromatics and olefins in the gasoline increased the emissions of carbon monoxide (CO) and toxics, as well as the atmospheric photochemical reactivity of exhaust emissions, which could hasten the formation of secondary pollutants. Our results are helpful for redefining government strategies to control air pollution in North China and relevant for developing new refining technology throughout China.
Techno-economic analysis of chemical looping combustion with humid air turbine power cycle
Abstract Power generation from fossil fuel-fired power plant is the largest single source of CO2 emission. CO2 emission contributes to climate change. On the other hand, renewable energy is hindered by complex constraints in dealing with large scale application and high price. Power generation from fossil fuels with CO2 capture is therefore necessary to meet the increasing energy demand, and reduce the emission of CO2. This paper presents a process simulation and economic analysis of the chemical looping combustion (CLC) integrated with humid air turbine (HAT) cycle for natural gas-fired power plant with CO2 capture. The study shows that the CLC–HAT including CO2 capture has a thermal efficiency of 57% at oxidizing temperature of 1200 °C and reducer inlet temperature of 530 °C. The economic evaluation shows that the 50 MWth plant with a projected lifetime of 30 years will have a payback period of 7 years and 6 years for conventional HAT and CLC–HAT cycles respectively. The analysis indicates that CLC–HAT process has a high potential to be commercialised.