Tracing Gas and Particle Phase Oxidation From Engine Sources as a Function of Fuel Type, Load, and Photochemical Age

Abstract:

Motor vehicle emissions are an important source of anthropogenic gases and particles in the atmosphere. To study the gas and particle phase emissions, an HR-TOF-AMS and HR-TOF-CIMS were deployed at the CSU Engines Lab, along with an oxidative flow reactor, to measure emissions from a 4.5 L John Deere engine, which ran either diesel or biodiesel fuel. Concurrent gas-phase and particle-phase measurements allowed determination of the gas-phase and particle-phase oxidation properties as a function of fuel type, fuel load, and photochemical age. The impacts of particulate filers on composition and oxidation state were also assessed. While aerosol composition and associated oxidation properties for the biodiesel and diesel fuel types were similar, differences in photochemical production existed for the amount of load, or efficiency of the engine. The mean particulate oxygen to carbon ratios (O:C) and mean hydrogen to carbon ratios (H:C) moved from an initial 0.1 and 2 to a final 0.55 and 1.6, respectively, upon idle biodiesel and diesel engine exhaust exposure to approximately 7 days of OH exposure. The more efficient higher load biodiesel and diesel engine exhaust experienced less changes in the mean O:C and H:C values (an initial 0.1 and 2 to a final 0.3 and 1.7, respectively) with approximately the same amount of OH exposure. Despite largely scrubbing the majority of particles from the engine exhaust, experiments with engine particulate filters still showed photochemical production of oxidized particle-phase species at high photochemical ages, similar to that of idle engine exhaust without any particulate filters. Bulk gas-phase data was compared to bulk aerosol data in Van Krevelen space in order to understand how particle-phase oxidation traces gas-phase oxidation as a function of fuel type, engine load, and photochemical age.