PM 2.5: The Contribution of Coal Burning to Air Pollution in Beijing

Abstract: Due to the rapid economic growth and industrial development in China, the constantly soaring upGDP has made many people believe that the golden age of China has come. But along with the boomingdevelopment, the neglect and violation of the natural environment has brought intensive discussion and criticism.Moreover, during past decades, frequent natural disasters and extreme weathers resulting from human activitieshave made local dwellers suffer from economical loss, as well as physical harm. Thus more attention fromwithin the country has been drawn to the environmental issues; media reports, national debates and researcheshave been going on for years. Among which, the problem of air pollution has caught a large public concern,especially when the PM 2.5 in Chinese metropolises like Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Xi’an etc. exceeded900 micrograms per cubic meter. In previous analysis of PM 2.5 pollutants in developing countries, it has beenfound that most of those aerosol particles are from the burning of fossil fuels and biomass, and in China’s case,coal burning has been blamed largely, due to the fact that the use of coal takes up about 70% of total energyconsumption. Based on data analysis and chemical ratio examination, this thesis is to find out the connectionbetween PM 2.5 and Coal burning in China’s capital city Beijing.