CCTV News:Recently, the problem of sulfur dioxide exceeding the standard in Linfen City, Shanxi Province has aroused widespread concern. As a typical resource-based city in the north, the ambient air quality in Linfen City has turned sharply since the winter of 2016, and heavy smog weather has continued to appear. Up to now, Linfen City has experienced six heavy pollution weather processes, which lasted for 48 days and issued 13 heavy pollution weather warnings. On January 4, 2017, the air quality index (AQI) of monitoring points in Linfen City continued to rise, and the concentration of SO2 (sulfur dioxide) was as high as 1,300 μ g/m3, exceeding the national third-class standard ("minimum requirements for people to be exposed to acute health damage in the short and medium term") by more than 1,000, ranking first in 388 cities in China, 719 higher than the second.
On the 15th, Shanxi Provincial Environmental Protection Department announced that after three days’ investigation and analysis, the joint expert group of the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Shanxi Province has preliminarily identified five reasons for the excessive concentration of sulfur dioxide in Linfen:
First, coal consumption is large.From 2013 to 2016, the city’s coal consumption in Linfen increased from 30 million tons to 36.6 million tons, of which coking coal accounted for a high proportion, accounting for 65.3%, followed by power generation coal of 9.7 million tons, accounting for 26.5%.
Second, residents’ loose coal combustion emissions have aggravated sulfur dioxide pollution in winter.According to preliminary estimates, the annual sulfur dioxide emissions from coal-fired heating (except cogeneration) in six counties and cities (districts) along the Fenhe River in Linfen City are about 38,000 tons, accounting for 45% of the annual sulfur dioxide emissions. When winter enters the heating season, the proportion is even more prominent, accounting for about 70%. Among them, the emissions from heating boilers other than cogeneration account for 13% of the living sources.
Third, the promotion and use of clean coke did not achieve the expected results.Although clean coke is widely used in urban areas, due to its high burning point and difficulty in bank up, some people abandon the distributed clean coke, some mix clean coke with inferior coal, and a small number of clean coke fail to meet the sulfur index, and the amount of sulfur dioxide emitted by residents in urban areas and surrounding areas is still large.
Fourth, the transformation of coal-fired heating boilers and clean energy lags behind.At present, there are still 86 130-ton coal-fired boilers in urban areas, and there are basically no desulfurization measures. Although clean coke is used, the sulfur dioxide emission is still very large, which has a direct impact on the sulfur dioxide index in urban areas.
Fifth, there is no on-line monitoring for central heating in Dongcheng, the desulfurization device is ineffective, the factory area is messy and the management measures are not in place.(CCTV reporter Hu Xiaodong)