Quantifying the impact of residential heating on the urban air quality in a typical European coal combustion region.

The present investigation, carried out as a case study in a typical major city situated in a European coal combustion region (Krakow, Poland), aims at quantifying the impact on the urban air quality of residential heating by coal combustion in comparison with other potential pollution sources such as power plants, industry, and traffic. Emissions were measured for 20 major sources, including small stoves and boilers, and the particulate matter (PM) was analyzed for 52 individual compounds together with outdoor and indoor PM10 collected during typical winter pollution episodes. The data were analyzed using chemical mass balance modeling (CMB) and constrained positive matrix factorization (CMF) yielding source apportionments for PM10, B(a)P, and other regulated air pollutants namely Cd, Ni, As, and Pb.

Effect of water/fuel emulsions and a cerium-based combustion improver additive on HD and LD diesel exhaust emissions.

One of the major technological challenges for the transport sector is to cut emissions of particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) simultaneously from diesel vehicles to meet future emission standards and to reduce their contribution to the pollution of ambient air. Installation of particle filters in all existing diesel vehicles (for new vehicles, the feasibility is proven) is an efficient but expensive and complicated solution; thus other short-term alternatives have been proposed. It is well known that water/diesel (W/ D) emulsions with up to 20% water can reduce PM and NOx emissions in heavy-duty (HD) engines.