Effects of Fuel Aromatic Content on Nonvolatile Particulate Emissions of an In-Production Aircraft Gas Turbine

Aircraft engines emit particulate matter (PM) that affects the air quality in the vicinity of airports and contributes to climate change. Nonvolatile PM (nvPM) emissions from aircraft turbine engines depend on fuel aromatic content, which varies globally by several percent. It is uncertain how this...

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Published inEnvironmental science & technology Vol. 49; no. 22; pp. 13149 - 13157
Main Authors Brem, Benjamin T, Durdina, Lukas, Siegerist, Frithjof, Beyerle, Peter, Bruderer, Kevin, Rindlisbacher, Theo, Rocci-Denis, Sara, Andac, M. Gurhan, Zelina, Joseph, Penanhoat, Olivier, Wang, Jing
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States American Chemical Society 17.11.2015
Subjects
Air Pollutants - analysis
Air pollution
Airborne particulates
Aircraft
Airplane engines
Carbon black
Climate change
Emission standards
Gas turbine engines
Gases - analysis
Gasoline - analysis
Hydrocarbons, Aromatic - analysis
Models, Theoretical
Particulate Matter - analysis
Soot - analysis
Vehicle Emissions - analysis
Volatilization
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Summary:Aircraft engines emit particulate matter (PM) that affects the air quality in the vicinity of airports and contributes to climate change. Nonvolatile PM (nvPM) emissions from aircraft turbine engines depend on fuel aromatic content, which varies globally by several percent. It is uncertain how this variability will affect future nvPM emission regulations and emission inventories. Here, we present black carbon (BC) mass and nvPM number emission indices (EIs) as a function of fuel aromatic content and thrust for an in-production aircraft gas turbine engine. The aromatics content was varied from 17.8% (v/v) in the neat fuel (Jet A-1) to up to 23.6% (v/v) by injecting two aromatic solvents into the engine fuel supply line. Fuel normalized BC mass and nvPM number EIs increased by up to 60% with increasing fuel aromatics content and decreasing engine thrust. The EIs also increased when fuel naphthalenes were changed from 0.78% (v/v) to 1.18% (v/v) while keeping the total aromatics constant. The EIs correlated best with fuel hydrogen mass content, leading to a simple model that could be used for correcting fuel effects in emission inventories and in future aircraft engine nvPM emission standards.
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ISSN:0013-936X
1520-5851
DOI:10.1021/acs.est.5b04167