近日，爱尔兰戈尔韦大学Jurgita Ovadnevaite团队报道了住宅供暖用低烟燃料与超细颗粒物排放增加有关。相关论文于2026年3月2日发表在《自然—地球科学》杂志上。
尽管各国标准存在差异，当前全球空气质量标准的核心目标均是通过降低大气颗粒物质量浓度来减少公共健康风险。然而，这些标准未能有效应对超细颗粒物带来的健康威胁——此类颗粒物可深入人体肺部甚至穿越血脑屏障。
研究组综合实验数据、模型模拟、野外实测及肺部沉积分析，揭示了居民部门向"低烟燃料"转型过程中出现的超细颗粒物激增现象。旨在降低颗粒物质量排放的低烟燃料，意外导致超细颗粒物数量排放增加2-3倍，其肺部沉积贡献率超过所有高烟燃料的总和。
当前空气质量模型对超细颗粒物的低估达十倍量级，表明仅考虑颗粒物质量浓度会严重低估健康影响。这类超细颗粒物污染事件与以积聚模态颗粒物为主的灰霾事件形成鲜明对比。研究结果凸显了修订空气质量标准以纳入超细颗粒物的紧迫性，确保空气质量管理策略在降低质量浓度的同时，不会以牺牲超细颗粒物数量控制为代价。
附：英文原文
Title: Low-smoke fuels for residential heating linked to an increase in ultrafine particle emissions
Author: Lin, Chunshui, Ceburnis, Darius, Trubetskaya, Anna, Lei, Lu, Wang, Shan, Liu, Yi, Yuan, Wei, Cui, Haitao, Smith, William, Johnson, Robert, Fossum, Kirsten N., Lebedev, Vasily, Carr, Vincent, Monaghan, Rory F. D., Worsnop, Douglas, Morawska, Lidia, Wang, Tao, Huang, Ru-Jin, ODowd, Colin, Ovadnevaite, Jurgita
Issue&Volume: 2026-03-02
Abstract: Despite national variations, current air quality standards worldwide focus on reducing mass concentrations of atmospheric particulate matter to lower public health risks. However, these standards fall short in addressing the adverse health effects associated with ultrafine particles, which can penetrate deeper into the human lungs and even pass the blood–brain barrier. Here we present experimental, model and field data in addition to a lung deposition analysis to show there is a rise in ultrafine particle resulting from the transition to ‘low-smoke’ fuels in the residential sector. These low-smoke fuels, designed to lower particulate mass emissions, have unexpectedly led to a two-to-threefold increase in the emissions of ultrafine particle numbers, resulting in a higher contribution to lung deposition particles than all their smoky counterparts combined. Current air quality models underestimate ultrafine particles by a factor of ten, suggesting an underestimation of the health impacts when only particle mass was considered. These ultrafine particle events contrast sharply with the haze events that typically involve larger accumulation mode particles. Our findings highlight the urgent need to revise air quality standards to include ultrafine particles, ensuring air quality management strategies reduce mass concentration without the cost of increasing ultrafine particle number.
DOI: 10.1038/s41561-026-01942-1