State-of-the-Art Techniques in Air Quality, Climate Change, and Pollutant Transport

A special issue of Toxics (ISSN 2305-6304). This special issue belongs to the section "Air Pollution and Health".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (5 August 2023) | Viewed by 9659

Special Issue Editors


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Guest Editor
College of Ecology and Environment, Nanjing Forestry University, Nanjing 210037, China
Interests: air pollution; health effects; oxidative potential; climate change
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Institute of Analysis and Testing, Beijing Academy of Science and Technology, Beijing 100089, Beijing
Interests: bioremediation; plant physiology; plant resistance; air quality; heavy metals
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Air pollution and climate change are inextricably linked global issues which have major impacts on the environment and population health. The demand for primary energy for economic development among cities is unprecedented. It is estimated that the primary energy demand in low- and middle-income countries may double by 2040 according to World Energy Outlook 2015. In the train of the situation, air pollutants and greenhouse gas emissions originating from primary energy use have been largely discharged across the world. At the same time, major global changes owing to air pollution and climate change are impacting our lives, such as increases in extreme heat and weather events (e.g., floods and droughts) and reduced agricultural production as a result of climate change, as well as premature deaths following exposure of air pollution.

The development of monitoring technologies for air pollution and climate change and their associated impacts could provide policy-makers with a more integrated strategy to address air pollution and climate change in the context of health and sustainable development. On the same hand, the mitigation of air pollution and climate change can benefit the environment and health in countries, and may also facilitate economic development by updating technologies that reduce local and regional air pollution.

The purpose of this Special Issue of Toxics is to explore the state-of-art technologies that could monitor air pollution and climate change and their associated impacts, as well as mitigate air pollution and climate change in an eco-friendly way. We are pleased to invite you to submit original papers, reviews, and short communications that focus on the technologies that monitor and mitigate air pollution and climate change. 

The research areas may span various research fields including the following:

  • Environmental chemistry;
  • Toxicology;
  • Ecotoxicology;
  • Risk assessment and risk management;
  • Engineering;
  • Remediation and restoration.

We look forward to receiving your contributions.

Dr. Qingyang Liu
Dr. Yanju Liu
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Toxics is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

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Keywords

  • engineering
  • techniques
  • risk assessment
  • ecotoxicology
  • air quality
  • climate change
  • pollutant transport

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Published Papers (4 papers)

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Research

11 pages, 1828 KiB  
Article
Whole-Transcriptome Analysis on the Leaves of Rosa chinensis Jacq. under Exposure to Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons
by Shili Tian, Qingyang Liu, Jingming Qu, Ming Yang, Qiaoyun Ma, Jia Liu, Peng Shao and Yanju Liu
Toxics 2023, 11(7), 610; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics11070610 - 13 Jul 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1180
Abstract
The leaves of plants can be recommended as a cheap and sustainable environmental protection tool to mitigate PAHs with high toxicity in the ambient environment because they can serve as a reactor to remove ambient PAHs. Although previous studies have demonstrated that PAHs [...] Read more.
The leaves of plants can be recommended as a cheap and sustainable environmental protection tool to mitigate PAHs with high toxicity in the ambient environment because they can serve as a reactor to remove ambient PAHs. Although previous studies have demonstrated that PAHs exhibit toxicological features, our knowledge about how ambient PAHs influence the leaves of plants is limited regarding the leaves of plants reducing ambient PAHs as a reactor. In this study, 1-year-old Rosa chinensis Jacq. with good growth potential was selected as a model plant. The leaves of Rosa chinensis Jacq. were exposed to 16 types of PAHs in the environmental concentration exposure group (0.1 μg L−1) and high-concentration exposure group (5 μg L−1) for seven days. In comparison, the leaves of Rosa chinensis Jacq. were exposed to de-ionized water and were chosen as the control group. During the exposure periods, the physiological parameters of leaves including, chlorophyll value, water content, temperature and nitrogen, were monitored using a chlorophyll meter. After 7 days of exposure, the leaves in the control and exposure groups were collected and used for whole-transcriptome analysis. Our results demonstrate that significant differentially expressed genes were observed in the leaves of Rosa chinensis Jacq. exposed to individual PAHs at 5 μg L−1 compared to the control group. These differentially expressed genes were involved in seven main pathways using bioinformatic analyses. In contrast, the levels of PAHs at environmentally relevant concentrations had negligible impacts on the physiological parameters and the gene transcription levels of the leaves of Rosa chinensis Jacq. Our results may provide direct evidence to remove ambient PAHs using terrestrial trees without considering the risk of PAHs at environmentally relevant concentrations on the leaves of terrestrial plants. Full article
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20 pages, 1632 KiB  
Article
Change in Air Quality during 2014–2021 in Jinan City in China and Its Influencing Factors
by Qingchun Guo, Zhenfang He and Zhaosheng Wang
Toxics 2023, 11(3), 210; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics11030210 - 24 Feb 2023
Cited by 25 | Viewed by 3018
Abstract
Air pollution affects climate change, food production, traffic safety, and human health. In this paper, we analyze the changes in air quality index (AQI) and concentrations of six air pollutants in Jinan during 2014–2021. The results indicate that the annual average concentrations of [...] Read more.
Air pollution affects climate change, food production, traffic safety, and human health. In this paper, we analyze the changes in air quality index (AQI) and concentrations of six air pollutants in Jinan during 2014–2021. The results indicate that the annual average concentrations of PM10, PM2.5, NO2, SO2, CO, and O3 and AQI values all declined year after year during 2014–2021. Compared with 2014, AQI in Jinan City fell by 27.3% in 2021. Air quality in the four seasons of 2021 was obviously better than that in 2014. PM2.5 concentration was the highest in winter and PM2.5 concentration was the lowest in summer, while it was the opposite for O3 concentration. AQI in Jinan during the COVID epoch in 2020 was remarkably lower compared with that during the same epoch in 2021. Nevertheless, air quality during the post-COVID epoch in 2020 conspicuously deteriorated compared with that in 2021. Socioeconomic elements were the main reasons for the changes in air quality. AQI in Jinan was majorly influenced by energy consumption per 10,000-yuan GDP (ECPGDP), SO2 emissions (SDE), NOx emissions (NOE), particulate emissions (PE), PM2.5, and PM10. Clean policies in Jinan City played a key role in improving air quality. Unfavorable meteorological conditions led to heavy pollution weather in the winter. These results could provide a scientific reference for the control of air pollution in Jinan City. Full article
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13 pages, 2291 KiB  
Article
Determination of 31 Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Plant Leaves Using Internal Standard Method with Ultrasonic Extraction–Gas Chromatography–Mass Spectrometry
by Ming Yang, Shili Tian, Qingyang Liu, Zheng Yang, Yifan Yang, Peng Shao and Yanju Liu
Toxics 2022, 10(11), 634; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics10110634 - 22 Oct 2022
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2403
Abstract
The method for the determination of 16 priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in plant leaves has been studied extensively, yet the quantitativemethod for measuring non-priority PAHs in plant leaves is limited. A method for the simultaneous determination of 31 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) [...] Read more.
The method for the determination of 16 priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in plant leaves has been studied extensively, yet the quantitativemethod for measuring non-priority PAHs in plant leaves is limited. A method for the simultaneous determination of 31 polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in plant leaves was established using an ultrasonic extraction–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry–internal standard method. The samples of plant leaves were extracted with ultrasonic extraction and purified with solid-phase extraction columns. The PAHs were separated by using gas chromatography–mass spectrometry equipped with a DB-EUPAH capillary column (20 m × 0.18 mm × 0.14 μm) with a selective ion monitoring (SIM) detection mode, and quantified with an internal standard. The method had good linearity in the range of 0.005~1.0 μg/mL with correlation coefficients greater than 0.99, and the method detection limit and maximum quantitative detection limit were in the ranges of 0.2~0.7 μg/kg and 0.8~2.8 μg/kg, respectively. The method was verified with spiked recovery experiments. The average spiked recovery ranged from 71.0% to 97.6% and relative standard deviations (n = 6) were less than 14%. Herein, we established a quantitativemethod for the simultaneous determination of priority and non-priority PAHs in plant leaves using GC–MS. The method is highly sensitive and qualitatively accurate, and it is suitable for the determination of PAHs in plant leaves. Full article
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17 pages, 3290 KiB  
Article
Emission Characteristics of Air Pollutants and CO2 from 11 Cities with Different Economic Development around the Bohai Sea in China from 2008–2017
by Zongshan Zhao, Qingyang Liu, Jing Lan and Yaru Li
Toxics 2022, 10(9), 547; https://doi.org/10.3390/toxics10090547 - 19 Sep 2022
Cited by 4 | Viewed by 2069
Abstract
Cities around the Bohai Sea are one of the main population cluster areas in China, which are characterized by high levels of sustainability performance and human capital, as well as resource-intensive industries. In this study, levels of economic development metrics and emissions of [...] Read more.
Cities around the Bohai Sea are one of the main population cluster areas in China, which are characterized by high levels of sustainability performance and human capital, as well as resource-intensive industries. In this study, levels of economic development metrics and emissions of air pollutants (BC, CO, NH3, NOx, OC, PM2.5, PM10, and SO2) and CO2 across eleven cities around the Bohai Sea from 2008 to 2017 were compared to illustrate the potential relationships between air pollutants/carbon emissions and socioeconomic developments. Meanwhile, the associations between the levels of economic development metrics (GDP per capita), emissions, and energy use per GDP have also been examined. Large differences across these 11 cities presenting different economic development levels and energy consumption characteristics have been observed. Cities with development dependable on the consumption of fossil fuels and the development of resource-intensive industries have emitted large amounts of air pollutants and CO2. Furthermore, the emissions and energy use per GDP for all the cities follow environmental Kuznets curves. The comparison results suggested that the developing cities dependable on resource-intensive industries around the Bohai Sea would obtain greater socioeconomic benefits owing to the interregional cooperation policies under top-down socioeconomic development plans and bottom-up technology development, accompanied by reduced emissions of air pollutants and CO2. Full article
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