Characteristics of Particulate Matter Emissions from a Low-Speed Marine Diesel Engine at Various Loads

• Published in: Environmental Science & Technology Vol. 53; no. 19; pp. 11552 - 11559
• Main Authors: Jiang, Hao, Wu, Gang, Li, Tie, He, Pengfei, Chen, Run
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Chemical Society 01.10.2019; American Chemical Society (ACS)
• Subjects: Air Pollutants; Aliphatic hydrocarbons; carbon; chemical structure; Coastal zone; Diesel; Diesel engines; Emissions; energy-dispersive X-ray analysis; environmental science; Fuel oils; Gasoline; Hazard assessment; hazard characterization; Health risks; Hydrocarbons; Image transmission; Internal combustion engines; Loads (forces); Low speed; Mapping; Marine engines; Marine propulsion; Mass ratios; Molecular structure; Morphology; NMR; Nuclear fuels; Nuclear magnetic resonance; nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy; Particulate emissions; Particulate Matter; particulates; Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; Ships; Soot; Spatial distribution; spectrometers; Spectrum analysis; Transmission electron microscopy; Vehicle Emissions; X-ray spectroscopy
• ISSN: 0013-936X; 1520-5851; 1520-5851
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.9b02341

Particulate matter (PM) emissions from ships are increasingly posing health risks to population living along coastal areas. However, studies on the characteristics of particulate emissions from ships fueled with heavy fuel oil (HFO) are quite rare. In this paper, the characteristics of the PM sampled from the exhaust of a low-speed two-stroke common-rail marine diesel engine fueled with HFO are investigated at different loads. The thermal/optical carbon analyzer was employed to discriminate the elemental and organic carbons (EC and OC), the combustion-based elemental analysis was performed to obtain the C/H ratio, and the nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer was used to analyze the molecular structure of the sample. With increasing loads, the EC/OC and C/H mass ratios and the mole ratio of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons to aliphatic hydrocarbons increase. From transmission electron microscopy images, noticeable changes in nanostructure, size, morphology, and nanostructural parameters of soot particles were analyzed. Furthermore, the elemental spatial distribution in soot particles was observed by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy mapping. The main elements were detected by point-analyzed spectra. These results are believed to be valuable references for hazard evaluation and building a strategy of reducing particulate emissions from low-speed marine diesel engines.