On August 30th, the Ministry of Environmental Protection recently released five new standards for pollutant emissions. In response, Zou Shoumin, Director of the Science and Technology Standards Department of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, stated that after the implementation of the new standards, the emissions of particulate matter, vinyl chloride, and non methane total hydrocarbons in exhaust gas will be reduced by 51%, 72%, and 58% respectively compared to the current standards.

In order to implement the State Council's Action Plan for Air Pollution Prevention and Control and the Action Plan for Water Pollution Prevention and Control, the Ministry of Environmental Protection, together with the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine of China, has formulated five national pollutant emission standards, including the "Limits and Measurement Methods for Marine Engine Exhaust Pollutants (China's First and Second Stages)", "Limits and Measurement Methods for Motorcycle Pollutants (China's Fourth Stage)", "Limits and Measurement Methods for Light Motorcycle Pollutants (China's Fourth Stage)", "Requirements and Measurement Methods for Pollutant Emission Control of Light Hybrid Electric Vehicles", and "Emission Standards for Alkali and Polyvinyl Chloride Industries".

Zou Shoumin, Director of the Science and Technology Standards Department of the Ministry of Environmental Protection, stated that implementing these five standards can significantly reduce particulate matter (PM), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and sulfur dioxide (SO2) pollution, effectively promoting industry technological progress and environmental quality improvement.

Zou Shoumin said that China is a country with abundant inland shipping resources, and the environmental pollution caused by ship transportation is becoming increasingly prominent, especially in port cities and cities along rivers. Given the urgent situation of air pollution prevention and control in ports and ships in China, the Ministry of Environmental Protection has formulated emission standards for ship engines, strengthened control of ship pollutant emissions, and filled the gap in ship air pollutant emission standards.

The new standard applies to the environmental management of ships with Chinese nationality navigating or operating in China's waters (such as inland vessels, coastal vessels, river sea direct vessels, strait crossing vessels, and various types of fishing vessels) with a rated net power greater than 37 kW and newly produced ship engines. It does not apply to ocean going ships, and ocean going transport ships comply with relevant provisions of international conventions. In addition, the standard also specifies the requirements for the use of fuel in ships and the emission requirements for ships and machinery after major repairs. After the implementation of the new standards, the pollutant emissions from ship engines will be significantly reduced. Based on an annual increase of 10 million kilowatts of ship engines with a lifespan of 25 years, the first phase of the standard implementation will take 3 years. The ship engines manufactured and put into use will reduce NOX emissions by about 1.4 million tons and PM emissions by about 400000 tons throughout their lifespan; If the second stage standards are implemented for 3 years, ships equipped with these ship engines will further reduce NOX emissions by about 1.15 million tons and PM emissions by about 60000 tons during their lifespan. If all inland, coastal, and fishing vessels can meet the fuel requirements specified in this standard, the pollution reduction effect will be more significant.

Zou Shoumin said that the production of China's motorcycle industry has grown rapidly, and as of the end of 2015, the number of motorcycles owned reached 95.14 million. According to calculations, the proportion of motorcycle pollutant emissions to the national motor vehicle emissions in 2015 was 12.7% for carbon monoxide (CO), 13.5% for hydrocarbons (HC), and 1.6% for NOx. Although China is a major producer and user of motorcycles, there is still a significant gap between the overall technological level of motorcycles and the international advanced level. In order to effectively control motorcycle pollution, promote technological progress and structural optimization in related industries, the Ministry of Environmental Protection has formulated the National Fourth Standard for Motorcycles and Light Motorcycles.

Compared with the current third stage standards, five aspects have been mainly revised: firstly, expanding the scope of application of the standards and adding emission control requirements for diesel three wheeled motorcycles; The second is the addition of pollutant projects, which require the control of particulate matter for diesel three wheeled motorcycles; Thirdly, the pollutant limits will be further tightened; The fourth is to further enhance the durability requirements of emission control; The fifth is to propose more comprehensive environmental management and technical requirements.

Zou Shoumin said that starting from July 1, 2019, all newly sold and registered motorcycles and light motorcycles should meet the new standard requirements. Based on the implementation of the National IV standard for three years, it is estimated that all newly produced motorcycles during this period will reduce CO emissions by about 6.5 million tons, HC emissions by about 2 million tons, and NOx emissions by about 300000 tons over their entire service life compared to the implementation of the National III standard.

Zou Shoumin stated that in recent years, the country has actively encouraged the development of energy-saving and new energy vehicles, including hybrid electric vehicles. With the continuous development and maturity of technology, the production and sales of hybrid electric vehicles in China have significantly increased since 2014. Moreover, with the continuous upgrading of fuel consumption and emission standards in China, the production and sales of such vehicles will continue to grow. Due to the assistance of electrical energy, traditional measurement methods for hybrid electric vehicles cannot accurately evaluate the pollutant emissions status, thus requiring the development of specialized pollutant emission measurement methods.

The new standard is a revision of the "Measurement Method for Pollutant Emissions from Light Hybrid Electric Vehicles", which specifies the pollution control requirements and measurement methods for light hybrid electric vehicles. The specific pollutant control items and emission limits shall comply with the requirements of the corresponding stages of the light vehicle emission standard. The "Measurement Method for Pollutant Emissions from Light Hybrid Electric Vehicles" is only applicable to light hybrid electric vehicles in the second stage of China, and the new standard is applicable to the environmental management of light hybrid electric vehicles in the fourth and fifth stages of China. The implementation of this measurement method standard will not bring additional vehicle technology upgrade costs.

Zou Shoumin pointed out that in recent years, the scale of caustic soda and polyvinyl chloride enterprises in China has continued to grow, and has become the largest producer of caustic soda and polyvinyl chloride. This industry not only emits conventional environmental pollutants, but also toxic and harmful pollutants such as heavy metals, posing a threat to human health and environmental safety. The polyvinyl chloride industry is a mercury related industry that is a key focus of the Minamata Convention. The industry consumes approximately 850 tons of mercury annually, accounting for 85% of domestic consumption and 51% of global consumption.

The formulation of the new standards comprehensively considers the current situation of production and emission control in the domestic industry, the development of production processes and pollutant emission control technologies, as well as the economic costs of meeting standards. It increases the requirements for air pollutant emission control, adjusts water pollutant emission control projects, tightens water pollutant emission control requirements, and cancels the regulation of graded management based on sewage destination. After the implementation of the new standards, it is expected that the chemical oxygen demand (CODCr), five day biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5), total mercury, and vinyl chloride emissions of wastewater will be reduced by 77%, 67%, 67%, and 87% respectively compared to the current standards. Compared with the current standards, the emissions of particulate matter, vinyl chloride, and non methane total hydrocarbons in exhaust gas have been reduced by 51%, 72%, and 58%, respectively.