Ecotoxicological characterisation of exhaust particulates from diesel-powered light-duty vehicles

Abstract

Abstract:© Versita Sp. z o.o. Keywords: Diesel exhaust particulates • Ecotoxicity • Kinetic luminescent bacteria test • Direct contact test Institute of Environmental Sciences, University of Pannonia, H-8200 Veszprém, HungaryAndrás Ács, Árpád Ferincz, Anikó Kovács, Beatrix Jancsek-Turóczi, András Gelencsér, Gyula Kiss, Nora Kováts * Short CommunicationDiesel exhaust is one of the major sources of fine and ultrafine particulate matter in urban air. Toxicity of diesel-powered engine emissions has been quite widely assessed, however, much less information is available on their ecotoxicity. In our study the kinetic version of the Vibrio fischeri bioluminescence inhibition bioassay, based on the ISO 21338:2010 standard, was used to characterise the ecotoxicity of diesel-powered cars. The method is sensitive enough to test the ecotoxic effect of the emission of individual vehicles. In general, significant positive correlation was found between ecotoxicity (expressed as Toxic Unit /TU/ values) and total carbon (TC) as well as between TU and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) concentrations.

From the air to the water phase: implication for toxicity testing of combustion-derived particles

“…With respect to the studies assessing ecotoxicological effects of combustion particles, either extracts in water or DMSO were used for testing [25, 66-69, 91, 92] or the filters were directly used (either grounded or as inserts in well plates) for exposing the bacteria [7,23,24,90,93].…”

“…Most often, they concluded that the effects depend on the particle composition (PAH and/or metal content) and also the particle size (e.g., [10,40,50,52,72]). In detail, about a quarter of the authors declared that the PAH content/the organic fraction is responsible for the observed toxic effects (e.g., [9,11,37,88]), and fewer authors correlate the toxic effects with the inorganic water-soluble fraction (e.g., [54,62]), while some authors concluded that both parts attribute to overall toxicity (e.g., [23,71]). In contrast, four authors could not correlate the PAH content to the observed effects [25,42,57,86].…”

“…Thus, we aimed to review the current approaches used to assess the ecotoxicological potential of combustion-derived particles with focus on the procedures used in bioassays and the methodology employed for particle characterization. Since only few studies analyzed the hazard of combustion-derived particles towards environmental organisms [7,[22][23][24], in vitro studies regarding human toxicity were considered also, thereby excluding those using ALI systems. Related to that, a specific objective of the review is to consider the transfer of particles from the air to the water phase and the implications this step may have on the whole testing procedure and ultimately on biological effects.…”

Investigation of Artificially Generated and Ambient Carbonaceous Particulate Matter

“…Several previous studies proved that optically active CPM has significant ecotoxicological potential Ács et al, 2013). The fact that OACs and ecotoxicity both correlated with the concentration of carbonaceous constituents of CPM also suggests light absorbing carbonaceous particulate matter (LAC) is ecotoxic.…”

“…Also, this study was the first to determine correlation between the online measured optical absorption (AAE and OAC) and the offline determined ecotoxicological effect of CPM. Numerous earlier studies showed that optically active fraction of CPM has remarkable impact on human health and earthly ecosystems (Donaldson et al, 1996;Donaldson et al, 2002;Li et al, 2003Li et al, , 2009Verma et al, 2009;Verma et al, 2012;Ács et al, 2013;Túroczi et al, 2012). Based on the found correlations, AAE is proposed to be a possible candidate for first-screening the toxicological potential of LAC.…”