Department
Chemistry
Journal Title
Atmosphere
Publication Date
2011
Volume No.
2
First Page
182
Last Page
200
Publisher
Basel, Switzerland : Molecular Diversity Preservation International (MDPI)
File Name
095_Gross_atmosphere-02-00182-v2.pdf
Keywords
ethanol, bio-fuels, aerosol time-of-flight mass spectrometer (ATOFMS), combustion aerosols
Abstract
Due to its agricultural origin and function as a fuel oxygenate, ethanol is being promoted as an alternative biomass-based fuel for use in spark ignition engines, with mandates for its use at state and regional levels. While it has been established that the addition of ethanol to a fuel reduces the particulate mass concentration in the exhaust, little attention has been paid to changes in the physicochemical properties of the emitted particles. In this work, a dynamometer-mounted GM Quad-4 spark ignition engine run without aftertreatment at 1,500 RPM and 100% load was used with four different fuel blends, containing 0, 20, 40 and 85 percent ethanol in gasoline. This allowed the effects of the fuel composition to be isolated from other effects. Instrumentation employed included two Aerosol Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometers covering different size ranges for analysis of single particle composition, an Aethalometer for black carbon, a Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer for particle size distributions, a Photoelectric Aerosol Sensor for particle-bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) species and gravimetric filter measurements for particulate mass concentrations. It was found that, under the conditions investigated here, additional ethanol content in the fuel changes the particle size distribution, especially in the accumulation mode, and decreases the black carbon and total particulate mass concentrations. The molecular weight distribution of the PAHs was found to decrease with added ethanol. However, PAHs produced from higher ethanol-content fuels are associated with NO2 − (m/z—46) in the single-particle mass spectra, indicating the presence of nitro-PAHs. Compounds associated with the gasoline (e.g., sulfur-containing species) are diminished due to dilution as ethanol is added to the fuel relative to those associated with the lubricating oil (e.g., calcium, zinc, phosphate) in the single particle spectra. These changes have potential implications for the health effect impacts of particulate emissions from biofuel blends.
Rights Management
Carleton College does not own the copyright to this work and the work is available through the Carleton College Library following the original publisher's policies regarding self-archiving. For more information on the copyright status of this work, refer to the current copyright holder.
RoMEO Color
Green
Preprint Archiving
Yes
Postprint Archiving
Yes
Publisher PDF Archiving
Yes
Fully Open Access
Yes
Contributing Organization
Carleton College
Type
Article
Format
application/pdf
Language
English
DOI
10.3390/atmos2020182
Recommended Citation
Dutcher, Dabrina D., Mark R. Stolzenburg, Samantha L. Thompson, Juan M. Medrano, Deborah S. Gross, David B. Kittelson, and Peter H. McMurry., "Emissions from Ethanol-Gasoline Blends: A Single Particle Perspective". Atmosphere. 2011, 2: 182-200. Available at: https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos2020182. Accessed via Faculty Work. Chemistry. Carleton Digital Commons. https://digitalcommons.carleton.edu/chem_faculty/9
The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.3390/atmos2020182
