Regulatory methods for the measurement of particulate matter (PM) mass emissions have traditionally been gravimetric. Modern diesel engines equipped with aftertreatment systems, especially Diesel Particulate Filters (DPFs), however, emit much smaller amounts of particulate matter as compared to traditional diesel engines and emit particulate matter with variable compositions. These changes have led to difficulties in measuring PM emissions rates from modern diesel engines using gravimetric methods. Issues associated with diesel PM mass measurement, such as the semi-volatile nature of PM, the interactions with components in the dilution air such as water and ammonia, and the possibility of sampling artifacts, have counteracted a singular focus on mass measurements. These inherent problems may warrant some alternative approaches to characterizing emissions, using methods related to mass and impacts of emissions that can be more accurately defined. The present study provides a comparison and relative precision of several alternative mass measurement methods employed to measure the mass emissions of particulate matter from diesel engines with low and ultra-low levels of emissions. The methods of measurement reviewed in this study include two gravimetrically based methods, a chemically reconstructed mass method, and an integrated particle size distribution (IPSD) method. The mass measurements were consistent at low emission levels but the chemical speciation and IPSD methods achieved closer agreement and were more precise at ultra-low emission levels. Although mass measurement is a NIST-traceable quantity, alternative methods may present a new paradigm that better characterizes engine emissions in an atmospherically relevant manner.
Two methods, diesel particulate filter (DPF) and selective catalytic reduction (SCR) systems,for controlling diesel emissions have become widely used, either independently or together, for meeting increasingly stringent emissions regulations worldwide. Each of these systems is designed for the reduction of primary pollutant emissions including particulate matter (PM) for DPF and nitrogen oxides (NOx) for SCR. However, there have been growing concerns regarding the secondary reactions that these aftertreatment systems may promote, involving unregulated species emissions. This study was performed to gain an understanding of the effects that these aftertreatment systems may have on the emission levels of a wide spectrum of chemical species found in diesel engine exhaust. Samples were extracted using a source dilution sampling system designed to collect exhaust samples representative of real-world emissions. Testing was conducted on a heavy-duty diesel engine with no aftertreatment devices to establish a baseline measurement and also on the same engine equipped first with a DPF system and then a SCR system. Each of the samples was analyzed for a wide variety of chemical species, including elemental and organic carbon, metals, ions, n-alkanes, aldehydes, and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, in addition to the primary pollutants, due to the potential risks they pose to the environment and public health. The results show that the DPF and SCR systems were capable of substantially reducing PM and NOx emissions, respectively. Further, each of the systems significantly reduced the emission levels of the unregulated chemical species, while the notable formation of new chemical species was not observed. It is expected that a combination of the two systems in some future engine applications would reduce both primary and secondary emissions significantly.
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