In February 2012, the Chinese government revised its National Ambient Air Quality Standard, including for the first time limits on PM2.5, specifying a 24-hour average value and an annual mean value for concentration limits. This transformed the Chinese market for PM2.5 monitors, with government mandates driving purchase and deployment of real-time monitors. PM2.5, defined as airborne particulate matter measuring 2.5 mm in diameter, consists of organic compounds and heavy metals. The primary technologies for the continuous measurement of ambient-air PM2.5 are tapered-element oscillating microbalance (TEOM), beta-attenuation monitors (BAMs) and light scattering. Companies benefitting from Chinese market demand and demonstrating the opportunities available in China’s environmental markets include Met One Instruments (MOI) and Thermo Fisher Scientific.

The central government’s May 2012 implementation plan for monitoring of PM2.5 data, as well as five other pollutants, specified three phases. The first, completed at the end of 2012, set up 496 monitoring stations in 74 cities, including cities in the Beijing-Tianjin-Heibei, the Yangtze River Delta and the Pearl River Delta regions. In 2013, the network added 449 monitoring stations in 116 cities. Phase three is expected to add 639 stations in 203 cities by the end of next year, according to MOI. MOI told IBO that the number of ambient-air–monitoring stations is expected to grow from 661 in 2010 to 2,100 in 2015. MOI told IBO that the Chinese PM2.5-monitoring market, compared with Western and other Asian markets, is a “fast growing, huge market—implementation of rules and regulations take very little time. The market grew overnight and testing and implementation was done very fast in comparison to any other market.” According to MOI, the central government invested more than CNY 500 million ($81 million = CNY 6.15 = $1) in phase one, more than CNY 300 million ($49 million) in phase two and expects to invest more than CNY 800 million ($130 million) in phase three. As Michael Corvese, director of Business Development, Environmental and Process Monitoring, at Thermo told IBO, “We have completed installation of PM2.5 monitors in most of China’s tier 1 and 2 cities, and we continue to work with government agencies to complete the purchase and installation of PM2.5 monitors in tier 3 and 4 cities.”

Since 2012, the China National Environmental Monitoring Center (CNEMC) has conducted comparative testing of selected PM2.5 monitors. In June 2013, it published the “Technical Indices and Requirements of PM2.5 Automatic Monitoring Devices,” according to a 2014 report by the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES). Based on the testing, that year, the CNEMC published a list of qualified PM2.5 monitoring monitors, according to IGES. The list includes systems from five domestic and five foreign manufacturers. Nine of the systems are BAMs, and one is TEOM based.

The qualified TEOM system is Thermo’s 1405-F TEOM. Thermo’s 1405-DF and 1405-F systems’ Filter Dynamics Measurement System technology separately measures volatile and nonvolatile PM fractions. Thermo also offers BAMs and nephelometry-based systems for PM2.5 monitoring. The company’s 1405-DF, 5014i BAM, 5030i SHARP (Synchronized Hybrid Ambient Real-time Particulate)- and BAM-based SHARP monitor, and 2000i and 2025i Partisol Sequential Air Samplers are used in China and are awaiting government qualification, according to Mr. Corvese.

Asked about the use of different technologies by the PM2.5-monitoring network, Mr. Corvese said, “Product usage is a mixture across China depending upon each agency’s specific requirements. For example, the BAMs require a lower skill level, are less labor intensive, and tend to be used in more remote areas or where labor is short.” But other factors are also important. “The TEOM, while more complex, delivers a higher level of data quality and more information regarding volatile organic compounds in the ambient air. Budgets are also a factor. Sale price increases as one moves from BAM to SHARP to TEOM.” Thermo recently transferred all of its BAM manufacturing from Germany to Shanghai.

Also on the government’s qualified list is MOI’s BAM 1020. MOI has sold BAM PM2.5 monitors in China since 1995. The 1020 FEM (federal equivalent method) 2.5 model is currently sold in the country. According to MOI, CNEMC testing has favored BAM over TEOM. “So far, the CNEMC has tested 10 models of PM10 monitors and is testing 10 PM2.5 monitors; 17 out of 20 are beta monitors.” MOI added, “The TEOM technology depends on the model number as it has gone through several updates, but the beta gauges are the most popular because of accuracy, reliability, easy maintenance and price. There are more beta gauges in networks worldwide than the TEOM technology.” Asked about its work with the Chinese government, MOI told IBO, “We advise them on US EPA testing procedures, we participate in required tests, and many of them have come to our factory for in depth training in PM monitoring and monitors.”

The Chinese central government’s ambitious time line for PM2.5-monitoring implementation is one way the market differs from other regions. Another is the extent of PM2.5 pollution in China due to higher concentration levels, and the country’s diverse geography and large size. “The China market is different than Western markets, as well as other markets in Asia, because it has much higher levels of PM2.5. The demand for PM2.5 monitoring is, therefore, greater in China,” said Mr. Corvese. “The West does not see continuing high concentrations from single digits to almost 1000 µg/m3,” said MOI. “China has every climate condition within its borders—the market in China is not only vast, but with varied climate condition not normally found within a single country.”

These conditions, as well as China’s unprecedented demand for real-time PM2.5 monitors, has influenced technology development. “China is driving the development of more real-time PM2.5-speciation monitors,” explained Mr. Corvese. “Real time is important because pollution identification and control are significantly improved by being able to quickly determine the specific constituents of PM2.5 and trace them to the source.” As MOI explained, Chinese companies are following the lead of Western firms and are now developing two-channel PM2.5/PM10 monitors and content analyzers.

Chinese development of PM2.5-monitoring technology has steadily increased, supported by government investment and purchasing promotion. “The Chinese government has a preference for locally made products, which has prompted local companies to copy foreign instruments to participate in the ‘locally manufactured’ market,” explained MOI. “The government rule of thumb: first, made in China; second, assembled in China; third, buy foreign if [it] cannot be found in China.”

Chinese manufacturers on the country’s 2013 list of qualified PM2.5 monitors include publicly held Hebei Sailhero Environmental Protection High-tech and Focused Photonics as well as Wuhan Tiahong Instrument, Blue Shield Optoelectronics, and Zhong Sheng Tai Ke Environment Science & Technology Development. CNEMC testing and qualification of PM2.5 monitors is ongoing.

Mr. Corvese told IBO, “Local competition in China has been increasing, with product technology and quality gradually improving.” He added, “Chinese government purchasing laws favors locally made technology, but our instruments have a track record going back more than 20 years. They are proven in the field and carry US EPA and EU approvals, putting them on an entirely different level than relative newcomers.”

MOI also emphasized its track record. “Instrument quality/reliability is a headache for local monitor manufacturers, as reported during the 2013 annual meeting of the China Environment Monitoring Equipment Committee. The PM monitor is a relatively new instrument to Chinese manufacturers, while MOI has been in production since the 1980s.” MOI noted the challenges facing domestic firms. “China needs to catch up on years of research, testing and developing manufacturing techniques already being done in the West. One manufacturer made a copy of a BAM 1020 in nine months from start to market . . . But until the serious Chinese manufacturers can weed out the opportunists, they will face competition from beyond their borders.”