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  Cornell University

MAE Publications and Papers

Sibley School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

New article: Joint Measurements of Black Carbon and Particle Mass for Heavy-Duty Diesel Vehicles using a Portable Emission Measurement System

Article:  Zheng, X; Wu, Y; Zhang, SJ; Baldauf, RW; Zhang, KM; Hu, JN; Li, ZH; Fu, LX; Hao, JM; “Joint Measurements of Black Carbon and Particle Mass for Heavy-Duty Diesel Vehicles using a Portable Emission Measurement System”, Atmospheric Environment, 141:435-442

DOI

Abstract:  The black carbon (BC) emitted from heavy-duty diesel vehicles (HDDVs) is an important source of urban atmospheric pollution and creates strong climate-forcing impacts. The emission ratio of BC to total particle mass (PM) (i.e., BC/PM ratio) is an essential variable used to estimate total BC emissions from historical PM data; however, these ratios have not been measured using portable emission measurement systems (PEMS) in order to obtain real-world measurements over a wide range of driving conditions. In this study, we developed a PEMS platform by integrating two Aethalometers and an electric low pressure impactor to realize the joint measurement of real-world BC and PM emissions for ten HDDVs in China. Test results showed that the average BC/PM ratio for five HDDVs equipped with mechanical fuel injection (MI) engines was 0.43 +/- 0.06, significantly lower (P < 0.05) than another five HDDVs equipped with electronically-controlled fuel injection (EI) engines (0.56 +/- 0.12).

Traffic conditions also affected the BC/PM ratios with higher ratios on freeway routes than on local roads. Furthermore, higher ratios were observed for HDDVs equipped with EI engines than for the MI engines for the highway and local road routes. With an operating mode binning approach, we observed that the instantaneous BC/PM ratios of El engine vehicles were above those of the MI engine vehicles in all operating modes except for the braking mode (i.e., Bin 0). Therefore, the complex impacts from engine technology and traffic conditions on BC/PM ratios should be carefully considered when estimating real-world BC emissions from HDDVs based on overall PM emissions data. (C) 2016 Elsevier Ltd.  All rights reserved.

Funding Acknowledgement:  National Science & Technology Pillar Program of China [2013BAC13B03]; Environmental Public Welfare Project [201409013]; National Natural Science Foundation of China [51322804, 91544222]

Funding Text:  This work was supported by the National Science & Technology Pillar Program of China (2013BAC13B03), the Environmental Public Welfare Project (201409013), and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (51322804 and 91544222). The contents of this paper are solely the responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily represent the official views of the sponsors.

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