Winter Heating Season: NE China city uses filters to reduce gas emissions

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Across China, local authorities are looking for ways to curb air pollution as winter heating season gets underway. In addition to airborne particles, gas emissions such as nitrogen oxides from boilers are equally harmful. CGTN reporter Xu Xinchen takes us to Shenyang, capital of Northeast China's Liaoning province, where authorities are stepping up air regulations.

With efforts to keep the winter sky blue, natural gas and electricity are fast-replacing coal. Older, inefficient coal boilers are getting phased out in favor of those powered by cleaner fuels.

SHENYANG RESIDENT "The boiler in our neighborhood used to use coal. Coal dust was all over the place. Now, we are using natural gas. It is much cleaner."

SHENYANG RESIDENT "After we switched to electricity, the radiators' temperature stays cooler. When we used coal, it would get really hot."

Despite the progress made with clean energy, over half of China's power consumption comes from coal. But experts say tougher rules on coal emission are needed. Starting this year, the city of Shenyang has mandated a 50 percent reduction in nitrogen oxide emission levels. Local air quality watchdogs say improvements were seen on day one of the winter heating season.

LIU MIN, DIRECTOR SHENYANG ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING CENTER "Based on data we collected over the past 24 hours, air pollutant concentration increased slightly overnight. Levels of nitrogen oxides though have been decreasing. So far, the air is still good."

XU XINCHEN SHENYANG "Nitrogen oxides are among the top air pollutants found in smog. These are the concentrations of the noxious gases on the first day of this winter's heating season, a level only half that of five years ago."

With tougher emissions rules in place, local coal boilers need to find ways to reduce their emissions levels.

XIA HAIFENG, VICE GM SHENYANG TIAN RUN HEATING POWER SUPPLY CO "We have been renovating our desulfurization and denitrification processes to adapt tougher regulations."

Xia Haifeng oversees operations at one of the largest heating power suppliers in Shenyang. His firm has invested over 10 million Chinese yuan, or some 1.5 million US dollars for purifying technologies. Tearing down old brick chimneys, their newly installed metal chimneys can filter out dust and noxious gases much more effectively.

XIA HAIFENG, VICE GM SHENYANG TIAN RUN HEATING POWER SUPPLY "Under existing circumstances, it is important for us to transform current coal heating technology to make coal emissions as clean as those from natural gas or electricity. And it is now technically possible."

Sulfur dioxide emissions have gone down 90%, nitrogen oxide emissions 50% and airborne particles are falling more in line with the national requirement of 30 milligrams per cubic meters. Winter heating season lasts through late March in Shenyang. In colder and more northern parts of China, winter ensures for as long as eight months. Xu Xinchen, CGTN, Shenyang.