Opportunities to mitigate PM2.5 and nitrogen deposition through agricultural NH3 control strategies in China’s Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region

Opportunities to mitigate PM2.5 and nitrogen deposition through agricultural NH3 control strategies in China’s Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Opportunities to mitigate PM 2.5 and nitrogen deposition through agricultural NH 3 control strategies in China’s Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region Lu Li, Yixin Guo, Jiayu Xu, Xingpei Ye, Danyang Li, Zehui Liu, and 3 more This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-5739672/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract High ammonia (NH 3 ) emissions mostly from agricultural sources have contributed to PM 2.5 air pollution and excess nitrogen deposition harmful to human and ecosystem health in China. Here we develop an assessment framework which combines an agricultural management technology database, a high-resolution (3 km) agricultural NH 3 emission inventory, and the GEOS-Chem High Performance (GCHP) model (at 10 km × 10 km resolution). We evaluate technology combinations for their potentials in providing NH 3 emission reductions and consequent air quality and ecosystem benefits for Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region, a hotspot for NH 3 and PM 2.5 . Results show that BTH agricultural NH 3 emissions can be reduced by up to 57% (274 Gg N/a) in 2019. With maximum feasible NH 3 reduction, annual PM 2.5 concentrations and nitrogen deposition can be reduced by up to 7% and 13%, respectively, which are more significant than effects of halving local anthropogenic NO x emissions. When combining maximum NH 3 reduction and 50% anthropogenic NO x reduction, effects of NH 3 controls on PM 2.5 mitigation will be suppressed, while facilitating more efficient local nitrogen deposition mitigation. Our findings implicate that maximum technical feasible NH 3 emission reductions are still useful for current PM 2.5 management and nitrogen deposition mitigation. In the near future, with continuous NO x controls, additional NH 3 controls are required to further mitigate nitrogen deposition in BTH, while delivering air quality benefits that are nonlinearly dependent on the levels NH 3 and NO x are reduced. Atmospheric Sciences Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. Supplementary Files supplement.docx Supplementary information for Opportunities to mitigate PM 2.5 and nitrogen deposition through agricultural ammonia control strategies in China’s Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region Dataformeasuredata.xlsx Data for measure data Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-5739672","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":396076924,"identity":"b5e36d52-db4f-46fb-9e9a-ee485478daa6","order_by":0,"name":"Lu Li","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, China","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Lu","middleName":"","lastName":"Li","suffix":""},{"id":396076925,"identity":"7c7e79a9-368c-4635-9eb6-0a21af960105","order_by":1,"name":"Yixin 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region\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"supplement.docx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5739672/v1/f4321226a9191503fcf01b47.docx"},{"id":72727952,"identity":"660461df-12f2-43ec-8026-4e09f553179a","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-01-01 04:41:01","extension":"xlsx","order_by":2,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"supplement","size":171151,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"\u003cp\u003eData for measure data\u003c/p\u003e","description":"","filename":"Dataformeasuredata.xlsx","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-5739672/v1/0d4fdcede4cfeb3aedabb11d.xlsx"}],"financialInterests":"The authors declare no competing interests.","formattedTitle":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eOpportunities to mitigate PM\u003c/strong\u003e\u003csub\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e2.5\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/sub\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e and nitrogen deposition through agricultural NH\u003c/strong\u003e\u003csub\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e3\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/sub\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e control strategies in China’s Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region\u003c/strong\u003e\u003c/p\u003e","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":true,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"Laboratory for Climate and Ocean-Atmosphere Studies, Department of Atmospheric and Oceanic Sciences, School of Physics, Peking University, Beijing, 100871, 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PM\u003csub\u003e2.5\u003c/sub\u003e air pollution and excess nitrogen deposition harmful to human and ecosystem health in China. Here we develop an assessment framework which combines an agricultural management technology database, a high-resolution (3 km) agricultural NH\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e emission inventory, and the GEOS-Chem High Performance (GCHP) model (at 10 km \u0026times; 10 km resolution). We evaluate technology combinations for their potentials in providing NH\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e emission reductions and consequent air quality and ecosystem benefits for Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei (BTH) region, a hotspot for NH\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e and PM\u003csub\u003e2.5\u003c/sub\u003e. Results show that BTH agricultural NH\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e emissions can be reduced by up to 57% (274 Gg N/a) in 2019. With maximum feasible NH\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e reduction, annual PM\u003csub\u003e2.5\u003c/sub\u003e concentrations and nitrogen deposition can be reduced by up to 7% and 13%, respectively, which are more significant than effects of halving local anthropogenic NO\u003csub\u003ex\u003c/sub\u003e emissions. When combining maximum NH\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e reduction and 50% anthropogenic NO\u003csub\u003ex\u003c/sub\u003e reduction, effects of NH\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e controls on PM\u003csub\u003e2.5\u003c/sub\u003e mitigation will be suppressed, while facilitating more efficient local nitrogen deposition mitigation. Our findings implicate that maximum technical feasible NH\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e emission reductions are still useful for current PM\u003csub\u003e2.5\u003c/sub\u003e management and nitrogen deposition mitigation. In the near future, with continuous NO\u003csub\u003ex\u003c/sub\u003e controls, additional NH\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e controls are required to further mitigate nitrogen deposition in BTH, while delivering air quality benefits that are nonlinearly dependent on the levels NH\u003csub\u003e3\u003c/sub\u003e and NO\u003csub\u003ex\u003c/sub\u003e are reduced.\u003c/p\u003e","manuscriptTitle":"Opportunities to mitigate PM2.5 and nitrogen deposition through agricultural NH3 control strategies in China’s Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region","msid":"","msnumber":"","nonDraftVersions":[{"code":1,"date":"2025-01-01 04:40:57","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-5739672/v1","editorialEvents":[{"type":"communityComments","content":0}],"status":"published","journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true}}],"origin":"","ownerIdentity":"225e24b0-7158-4bc5-a7e9-37c6d4986986","owner":[],"postedDate":"January 1st, 2025","published":true,"recentEditorialEvents":[],"rejectedJournal":[],"revision":"","amendment":"","status":"posted","subjectAreas":[{"id":42195256,"name":"Atmospheric Sciences"}],"tags":[],"updatedAt":"2025-01-01T04:40:57+00:00","versionOfRecord":[],"versionCreatedAt":"2025-01-01 04:40:57","video":"","vorDoi":"","vorDoiUrl":"","workflowStages":[]},"version":"v1","identity":"rs-5739672","journalConfig":"researchsquare"},"__N_SSP":true},"page":"/article/[identity]/[[...version]]","query":{"redirect":"/article/rs-5739672","identity":"rs-5739672","version":["v1"]},"buildId":"8U1c8b4HqxoKbykW_rLl7","isFallback":false,"isExperimentalCompile":false,"dynamicIds":[84888],"gssp":true,"scriptLoader":[]}