The relative amount of 14 C in a sample of atmospheric particulate matter (PM), defined as percent modern carbon (pMC), allows EPA to infer the fraction of PM derived from anthropogenic pollution sources. With increased use of biofuels that contain 14 C, the main assumption of the two-source model, that 14 C is solely derived from biogenic sources, may become invalid. The goal of this study was to determine the 14 C content of PM emitted from an off-highway diesel engine running on commercial grade biodiesel.Tests were conducted with an off-highway diesel engine running at 80% load fueled by various blends of soy-based biodiesel. A dilution tunnel was used to collect PM 10 emissions on quartz filters that were analyzed for their 14 C content using accelerator mass spectrometry. A mobility particle sizer and 5-gas analyzer provided supporting information on the particle size distribution and gas-phase emissions.
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