Emission characteristics of particulate matter emitted by typical off-road construction machinery.

Off-road machinery, especially construction equipment, is one of the most important pollutant sources of the deterioration in the air quality of Chinese urban areas owing to its large quantity and to the absence of stringent emission requirements. In this study, we used a portable emission measurement system (PEMS) to measure the exhaust pollutant emission characteristics for 13 pieces of construction machinery including excavators and hydraulic crushers under different working conditions, such as real-world operating condition, free accelerating condition, and overloading condition, innovatively adopting the method of synchronizing video recording and emission measurement to divide the operation process of construction machinery under different working conditions into different action stages. In addition, the relationship between the emission characteristics and the maintenance history of 13 pieces of construction machinery was analyzed. The present study exploits this recent progress to enrich the measurement method of off-road mobile machinery light absorption coefficient (LAC), which does not depend on the measurement environment and the type of equipment. There are three significant findings from the study that can be noted. To begin with, the exhaust LAC in the excavation operation stage was the highest in the real-world operating condition. The main reason for it is that the engine load was suddenly increased during this stage; due to the response lag characteristics of the turbocharger, the intake charge was delayed, so the quality of oil and gas mixture in the cylinder becomes worse, and the concentration of local mixture is higher. Therefore, insufficient combustion of the mixture leads to a large amount of soot formation. Second, when the real-world operation is unavailable, the free accelerating condition was not applicable, but the overflow loading condition is suitable for replacing the real-world operating condition to measure the excavator exhaust LAC. Finally, as for in-use construction machinery, regular maintenance is an effective measure to reduce the engine exhaust LAC. Our findings contribute to improving the efficiency and accuracy of the environmental protection department's evaluation of the exhaust LAC of off-road mobile machinery and promoting the application of different technologies for high-emission off-road mobile machinery to reduce pollutant emissions so that it can continue to be used.

Comparison of black carbon, primary and secondary brown carbon light absorption and direct solar absorption at the foothill and summit of Mt. Hua, China.

Atmospheric black carbon (BC), primary and secondary brown carbon (BrCpri and BrCsec) are the light-absorbing carbonaceous aerosol components. The vertical changes in the BC and BrC distributions are not generally known. Here, we presented a study of the spectral light absorption properties, direct solar absorption, and potential source areas of BC and BrC at the foothill (375 m a.s.l.) and summit (2060 m a.s.l.) of Mt. Hua, China. More than tripled BC and BrC light absorption coefficient were observed at the foothill compared to the summit. The dominant carbonaceous light-absorbing was attributed to BC with the percentages of 77 % (foothill) and 79 % (summit), respectively. The light absorption coefficient and direct solar absorption of BrCpri were much higher than those of BrCsec at foothill, especially in winter. The enhancing contributions of BrCsec light absorption coefficient and direct solar absorption were observed with high RH and visibility at the summit. The light absorption properties of BC, BrCpri, and BrCsec may be attributed to the emissions, meteorological conditions, and photochemical oxidation. The inferred potential source spatial distributions of BC and BrCpri showed different patterns at the foothill and summit. The results underlined the primary emission effects (including BC and BrCpri) at the foothill and the importance of BrCsec at the summit, respectively.

Light-absorption properties of brown carbon aerosols in the Asian outflow: Implications of a combination of filter and ground remote-sensing observations at Fukue Island, Japan.

Brown carbon (BrC) aerosols have important warming effects on Earth's radiative forcing. However, information on the evolution of the light-absorption properties of BrC aerosols in the Asian outflow region is limited. In this study, we evaluated the light-absorption properties of BrC using in-situ filter measurements and sky radiometer observations of the ground-based remote sensing network SKYradiometer NETwork (SKYNET) made on Fukue Island, western Japan in 2018. The light-absorption coefficient of BrC obtained from filter measurements had a temporal trend similar to that of the ambient concentration of black carbon (BC), indicating that BrC and BC have common combustion sources. The absorption Angstrom exponent in the wavelength range of 340-870 nm derived from the SKYNET observations was 15% higher in spring (1.81 ± 0.30) than through the whole year (1.53 ± 0.50), suggesting that the Asian outflow carries light-absorbing aerosols to Fukue Island and the western North Pacific. After eliminating the contributions of BC, the absorption Angstrom exponent of BrC alone obtained from filter observations had a positive Spearman correlation (rs = 0.77, p < 0.1) with that derived from SKYNET observations but 33% higher values, indicating that the light-absorption properties of BrC were successfully captured using the two methods. Using the atmospheric transport model FLEXPART and fire hotspots obtained from the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite product, we identified a high-BrC event related to an air mass originating from regions with consistent fossil fuel combustion and sporadic open biomass burning in central East China. The results of the study may help to clarify the dynamics and climatic effects of BrC aerosols in East Asia.

Light absorption properties of brown carbon over the southeastern Tibetan Plateau.

We present a study of the light-absorbing properties of water-soluble brown carbon (WS-BrC) and methanol-soluble brown carbon (MeS-BrC) at a remote site (Lulang, 3326m above sea level) in the southeastern Tibetan Plateau during the period 2015-2016. The light absorption coefficients at 365nm (babs365) of WS-BrC and MeS-BrC were the highest during winter and the lowest during monsoon season. MeS-BrC absorbs about 1.5 times higher at 365nm compared to WS-BrC. The absorption at 550nm appears lower compared to that of 365nm for WS-BrC and MeS-BrC, respectively. Higher average value of the absorption Ångström exponent (AAE, 365-550nm) was obtained for MeS-BrC (8.2) than that for WS-BrC (6.9). The values of the mass absorption cross section at 365nm (MAC365) indicated that BrC in winter absorbs UV-visible light more efficiently than in monsoon. The results confirm the importance of BrC in contributing to light-absorbing aerosols in this region. The understanding of the light absorption properties of BrC is of great importance, especially in modeling studies for the climate effects and transport of BrC in the Tibetan Plateau.

Optical properties of PM2.5 and the impacts of chemical compositions in the coastal city Xiamen in China.

Continuous in situ measurements of optical properties of fine aerosols (PM2.5) were conducted in the urbanized coastal city Xiamen in Southeast China from November 2013 to January 2014. PM2.5 samples were also collected and chemical compositions including organic carbon (OC), elemental carbon (EC) and water-soluble inorganic ions were determined to investigate the impacts of chemical compositions on aerosol optical properties. Average values of scattering coefficient (bscat), absorption coefficient (babs), extinction coefficient (bext) and single scattering albedo (SSA) were 164.0Mm(-1), 22.4Mm(-1), 187.0Mm(-1) and 0.88, respectively. bscat, babs and bext showed obvious bi-modal diurnal variations with high values in the morning and at night while low value in the early afternoon, whereas SSA exhibited an opposite diurnal variation. Average bscat and babs were largest in the wind direction of southwest and were larger with slower wind. babs was mainly affected by EC, while bscat was affected by ammonium, sulfate, nitrate and OC. The IMPROVE formula was applied to estimate bext based on the chemical species. Results shows that ammonium sulfate was the largest contributor, accounting for 36.4% of bext, followed by organic matter (30.6%), ammonium nitrate (20.1%), EC (9.0%) and sea salt (3.9%). The deterioration in visibility was mainly led by increases in secondary aerosols including sulfate and nitrate. Backward trajectories analysis showed that during the sampling period Xiamen was significantly affected by the air masses originating from the Northern and Northeastern areas. Air masses from the Northern associated with relative higher bext and less relative contribution from ammonium sulfate and more relative contribution from ammonium nitrate, organic matter and sea salt.