Interpretation of the Emission Standards for Air Pollutants from Gas Stations, Oil Storage Depots, and Oil Transportation
Nov 19, 2025| 1.Background of standard preparation
Emissions from gas stations, oil storage facilities, and fuel transportation are major sources of VOCs. As key precursors to ozone (O3) and fine particulate matter (PM2.5), VOCs are a critical component in air pollution control.
To advance the coordinated ecological governance of the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region and implement the requirements outlined in the "Measures List for Deepening Joint Ecological Protection in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei Area (Second Batch)", Hebei Province has established three new local standards (collectively termed the "Three Standards") to enhance volatile organic compound (VOCs) emission control and improve air quality. These standards include the "Air Pollutant Emission Standards for Gas Stations", "Air Pollutant Emission Standards for Oil Storage Facilities", and "Air Pollutant Emission Standards for Oil Transportation". Notably, all three standards represent the first-ever release of their kind in the region.
2.Main contents of the standard
(1) Scope of application of the standard
The "three standards" are applicable to the emission control requirements, monitoring and supervision requirements of air pollutants during the unloading, storage and refueling of gasoline (including alcohol-containing gasoline), the storage and delivery of oil products in the storage depot, and the transportation of oil products in the province.
(2) Emission indicators and limits
The "Emission Standards for Air Pollutants from Gas Stations" primarily aligns with the Beijing and Tianjin municipal standards, imposing stricter emission limits than the national standards. It mainly includes five indicators: liquid resistance (resistance in fuel vapor recovery pipelines), airtightness (irtightness of fuel vapor recovery systems), gas-liquid ratio (gas-liquid ratio of fuel nozzles), hourly concentration values (average hourly concentration of emissions from fuel vapor treatment devices), and boundary unorganized emissions (unorganized emissions of fuel vapor concentrations at gas station boundaries). Among these, the limits for liquid resistance, airtightness, and boundary unorganized emissions remain consistent with the national standards. The gas-liquid ratio standard has been tightened from the national standard's "graded determination of excessive fuel nozzles, allowing up to 2 exceedances" to "no excessive fuel nozzles allowed" (consistent with Beijing and Tianjin). The hourly concentration value has been increased from the national standard's "≤25g/m³" to "≤20g/m³ for existing gas stations and ≤10g/m³ for new gas stations" (also consistent with Beijing and Tianjin).
The "Emission Standards for Atmospheric Pollutants from Oil Storage Facilities" comprehensively addresses factors such as unorganized emissions from storage tanks. Compared to the national standard, our province has introduced new indicators with defined limits, primarily covering four categories: emissions from oil and gas treatment facilities, leakage emissions (including leak detection at sealing points of oil and gas collection systems), tank top vent emissions (new indicator), and boundary emissions from enterprises. Specifically, the leakage emission limit remains consistent with the national standard. The emission limit for oil and gas treatment facilities has been tightened from the national standard's "≤25g/m³" to "≤20g/m³" (aligned with Beijing's standards). The boundary emission limit for enterprises has been upgraded from the national standard's "average NMHC concentration ≤4mg/m³ over any 1-hour period" to a more precise "4.0mg/m³" (also in line with Beijing's standards). Additionally, the VOCs emission limit for tank top vents has been set at ≤4000μmol/mol, maintaining consistency with Beijing's regulations.
The "Emission Standards for Air Pollutants from Petroleum Transportation" specifically addresses the operational characteristics and emission control requirements of oil tanker transportation. It establishes two key parameters: airtightness (specifically the airtightness of vapor recovery systems in tankers) and leakage detection (for identifying leaks at sealing points). The leakage detection limit aligns with national standards, while the airtightness requirements are more stringent. Notably, the pressure fluctuation limits for vapor recovery systems are stricter than the national standard, with the pressure variation threshold for vapor recovery valves being reduced from "≤1.30kPa" to "≤1.25kPa" (consistent with Beijing's regulations).
3.Standard implementation time
The three standards were published on 25 April 2025, with a transition period of 11 months after publication, and implementation is scheduled for 1 November 2025.