Evaluation of a portable photometer for estimating diesel particulate matter concentrations in an underground limestone mine.

A low cost, battery-operated, portable, real-time aerosol analyzer is not available for monitoring diesel particulate matter (DPM) concentrations in underground mines. This study summarizes a field evaluation conducted at an underground limestone mine to evaluate the potential of the TSI AM 510 portable photometer (equipped with a Dorr-Oliver cyclone and 1.0-mum impactor) to qualitatively track time-weighted average mass and elemental, organic, and total carbon (TC) measurements associated with diesel emissions.

The effect of federal fuel sulfur regulations on in-use fleets: on-road heavy-duty source apportionment.

From 2002 to 2007 fuel sulfur content in the Minneapolis/St Paul area decreased from about 325 ppm S to <15 ppm S as a result of EPA regulations. We hypothesized that the reduction in fuel sulfur would result in a reduction of fuel specific heavy duty (HD) particle number emissions for the on-road diesel fleet. Fuel specific emissions were estimated by collecting on-road aerosol data, and exploiting the difference in the relative volumes of HD and light duty (LD) traffic on the roadway.

Effect of fuel and lube oil sulfur on the performance of a diesel exhaust gas continuously regenerating trap.

The continuously regenerating trap (CRT) is a diesel exhaust emission control that removes nearly all diesel particulate matter on a mass basis, but under some circumstances oxidation of sulfur leads to the formation of nanoparticles. The objective of the four year study was to determine CRT performance under controlled, real-world, on-road conditions, and to develop quantitative relationships between fuel and lubrication oil sulfur concentration and particle number exhaust emissions. It was shown that nanoparticle emissions are minimized by the use of ultralow sulfur fuels and specially formulated low sulfur lubrication oil.