Trace Metals in Soot and PM from Heavy-Fuel-Oil Combustion in a Marine Engine.

Heavy fuel oil (HFO) particulate matter (PM) emitted by marine engines is known to contain toxic heavy metals, including vanadium (V) and nickel (Ni). The toxicity of such metals will depend on the their chemical state, size distribution, and mixing state. Using online soot-particle aerosol mass spectrometry (SP-AMS), we quantified the mass of five metals (V, Ni, Fe, Na, and Ba) in HFO-PM soot particles produced by a marine diesel research engine.

Characterization of Gas-Phase Organics Using Proton Transfer Reaction Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry: Residential Coal Combustion.

Residential coal combustion is a significant contributor to particulate urban air pollution in Chinese mega cities and some regions in Europe. While the particulate emission factors and the chemical characteristics of the organic and inorganic aerosol from coal combustion have been extensively studied, the chemical composition and nonmethane organic gas (NMOG) emission factors from residential coal combustion are mostly unknown. We conducted 23 individual burns in a traditional Chinese stove used for heating and cooking using five different coals with Chinese origins, characterizing the NMOG emissions using a proton transfer reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometer.

Gasoline cars produce more carbonaceous particulate matter than modern filter-equipped diesel cars.

Carbonaceous particulate matter (PM), comprising black carbon (BC), primary organic aerosol (POA) and secondary organic aerosol (SOA, from atmospheric aging of precursors), is a highly toxic vehicle exhaust component. Therefore, understanding vehicle pollution requires knowledge of both primary emissions, and how these emissions age in the atmosphere. We provide a systematic examination of carbonaceous PM emissions and parameterisation of SOA formation from modern diesel and gasoline cars at different temperatures (22, -7 °C) during controlled laboratory experiments.