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On-road exhaust emissions from light-duty vehicles are greatly influenced by driving conditions. In this study, two light-duty passenger cars (LDPCs) and three light-duty diesel trucks (LDDTs) were tested to investigate the on-road emission factors (EFs) with a portable emission measurement system. Emission characteristics of carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC) and nitrogen oxides (NOx) emitted from vehicles at different speeds, accelerations and vehicle specific power (VSP) were analyzed. The results demonstrated that road conditions have significant impacts on regulated gaseous emissions. CO, NOx, and HC emissions from light-duty vehicles on urban roads increased by 1.1–1.5, 1.2–1.4, and 1.9–2.6 times compared with those on suburban and highway roads, respectively. There was a rough positive relationship between transient CO, NOx, and HC emission rates and vehicle speeds, while the EFs decreased significantly with the speed decrease when speed ≤ 20 km/h. The emissions rates of NOx and HC tended to increase and then decrease as the acceleration increased and the peak occurred at 0 m/s2 without considering idling conditions. For HC and CO, the emission rates were low and changed gently with VSP when VSP < 0, while emission rates increased gradually with the VSP increase when VSP > 0. For NOx NOx emission rates were lower and had no obvious change when VSP < 0. However, NOx emissions were positively correlated with VSP, when VSP > 0.

Many different alternatives exist to manage and treat sewage sludge, all with the common drawback of causing environmental and odour impacts. The main objective of this work is to present a full inventory of the gaseous and odorous emissions generated during the bench-scale composting of conventional sewage sludge, aiming at assessing the process performance and providing global valuable information of the different gaseous emission patterns and emission factors found for greenhouse gases (GHG) and odorant pollutants during the conventional sewage sludge composting process. The main process parameters evaluated were the temperature of the material, specific airflow, average oxygen uptake rate (OUR), and final dynamic respiration index (DRI), resulting in a proper performance of the sewage sludge composting process and obtaining the expected final product. The obtained material was properly stabilized, presenting a final DRI of 1.2 ± 0.2 g O2·h−1·kg−1 Volatile Solids (VS). GHGs emission factor, in terms of kg CO2eq·Mg−1 dry matter of sewage sludge (DM–SS), was found to be 2.30 × 102. On the other hand, the sewage sludge composting odour emission factor (OEF) was 2.68 × 107ou·Mg−1 DM–SS. Finally, the most abundant volatile organic compounds (VOC) species found in the composting gaseous emissions were terpenes, sulphur compounds, ketones, and aromatic hydrocarbons, whereas the major odour contributors identified were dimethyldisulphide, eucalyptol, and α-pinene.

To evaluate regulated gases and solid particle number (SPN) emissions in high-load off-cycle conditions, two diesel vehicles with a diesel particulate filter (DPF) and a urea selective catalytic reduction (SCR) system, respectively, and four gasoline port fuel injection (PFI) vehicles were tested with the worldwide light-duty test cycle, including an extra-high (Ex-hi) phase. All the tested vehicles were developed for the Japanese market and did not comply with the Ex-hi phase. All vehicles exhibited higher CO2 emissions in the Ex-hi phase than in low, the mid and high phases. Increased NOx and SPN10-23 emissions were observed with the DPF vehicle. These increased emissions were due to the occurrence of passive regeneration of the DPF, and the urea SCR system was stopped as a result. The small gasoline PFI cars showed increased CO and SPN emissions in the Ex-hi phase. These emissions were due to enrichment control, which occurred in a quite high load operation condition. The feature of higher emissions with enrichment control differed from that observed in a warming-up process in the cold-start mode. SPN23 increased mainly in the warming-up process, whereas SPN10-23 increased in the Ex-hi phase with enrichment control. Hybrid vehicles seem to have fewer opportunities to show the enrichment control due to motor assist.

Using the Weather Research and Forecasting model with chemistry module (WRF-Chem), Typhoon Nida (2016) was simulated to investigate the effects of anthropogenic gaseous emissions on the vortex system. Based on the Multi-resolution Emission Inventory for China (MEIC), three certain experiments were conducted: one with base-level emission intensity (CTRL), one with one-tenth the emission of SO2 (SO2_C), and one with one-tenth the emission of NH3 (NH3_C). Results show that the simulations reasonably reproduced the typhoon’s track and intensity, which were slightly sensitive to the anthropogenic gaseous emissions. When the typhoon was located over the ocean, a prolonged duration of raindrop growth and more precipitation occurred in CTRL run. The strongest updraft in CTRL is attributed to the maximum latent heating through water vapor condensation. During the landfalling period, larger (smaller) differential reflectivities in the main-core of the vortex were produced in NH3_C (SO2_C) run. Such opposite changes of raindrop size distributions may lead to stronger (weaker) rainfall intensity, and the ice-related microphysical processes and the relative humidity in low troposphere were two possible influential factors. Moreover, additional ten-member ensemble results in which white noise perturbations were added to the potential temperature field, indicated that the uncertainty of thermodynamic field in the current numerical model should not be ignored when exploring the impacts of aerosol on the microphysics and TC precipitation.

Interest in recovering and valorizing agricultural biomass residues has increased in recent years in response to emerging economic opportunities and the potential for more sustainable use of renewable and easy available resources. The present research has been carried out to understand and analyze the gaseous emissions during thermal degradation of the new straw fiber concrete developed for insulation application. Two straw fibers (wheat and barley) and two binders (plaster and lime) have been collected and mixed with different S/B ratios to conceive thermal insulation composites. Gaseous emissions are required as a crucial investigation firstly to evaluate the environmental and human pollution and secondly to predict the ignition of these new materials. Py–GC/MS analyses have been carried out for basic and composite materials at 300 °C. The thermal degradation of straws essentially released cellulose, lignin moieties and trimethyl pentadecanone. Composite materials, produced 27 compounds when submitted to a temperature of 300 °C. The straw composite materials gaseous emissions appear to be influenced by binder nature and S / B ratio.

Under the Paris Agreement, 195 nations have committed to holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to strive to limit the increase to 1.5 °C (ref. 1). It is noted that this requires \"a balance between anthropogenic emissions by sources and removals by sinks of greenhouse gases in the second half of the century\"1. This either calls for zero greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions or a balance between positive and negative emissions (NE)2,3. Roadmaps and socio-economic scenarios compatible with a 2 °C or 1.5 °C goal depend upon NE via bioenergy with carbon capture and storage (BECCS) to balance remaining GHG emissions4–7. However, large-scale deployment of BECCS would imply significant impacts on many Earth system components besides atmospheric CO2 concentrations8,9. Here we explore the feasibility of NE via BECCS from dedicated plantations and potential trade-offs with planetary boundaries (PBs)10,11 for multiple socio-economic pathways. We show that while large-scale BECCS is intended to lower the pressure on the PB for climate change, it would most likely steer the Earth system closer to the PB for freshwater use and lead to further transgression of the PBs for land-system change, biosphere integrity and biogeochemical flows.

BackgroundRecycling the ever-increasing plastic waste has become an urgent global concern. One of the most convenient methods for plastic recycling is pyrolysis, owing to its environmentally friendly nature and its intrinsic properties. Understanding the pyrolysis process and the degradation mechanism is crucial for scale-up and reactor design. Therefore, we studied kinetic modelling of the pyrolysis process for one of the most common plastics, polyethylene terephthalate (PET). The focus was to better understand and predict PET pyrolysis when transitioning to a low carbon economy and adhering to environmental and governmental legislation. This work aims at presenting for the first time, the kinetic triplet (activation energy, pre-exponential constant, and reaction rate) for PET pyrolysis using the differential iso-conversional method. This is coupled with the in-situ online tracking of the gaseous emissions using mass spectrometry.ResultsThe differential iso-conversional method showed activation energy (Ea) values of 165–195 kJ mol−1, R2 = 0.99659. While the ASTM-E698 method showed 165.6 kJ mol−1 and integral methods such as Flynn-–Wall and Ozawa (FWO) (166–180 kJ mol−1). The in-situ Mass Spectrometry results showed the gaseous pyrolysis emissions, which are C1 hydrocarbons and H–O-C=O along with C2 hydrocarbons, C5–C6 hydrocarbons, acetaldehyde, the fragment of O–CH=CH2, hydrogen, and water.ConclusionsFrom the obtained results herein, thermal predictions (isothermal, non-isothermal and step-based heating) were determined based on the kinetic parameters. They can be used at numerous scale with a high level of accuracy compared with the literature.

A summertime field campaign was conducted in Marseille, one of the major cruise and ferry ports in the Mediterranean, to provide comprehensive analysis of in-port ship emissions. High-temporal-resolution data were simultaneously collected from two monitoring stations deployed in the port area to examine the composition in both the gas and the particulate phases. More than 350 individual plumes were captured from a variety of ships and operational phases. Gaseous emissions are predominantly composed of NOx (86 %) and CO (12 %), with SO2 and CH4 each accounting for about 1 %. Although non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) make up less than 0.1 % of the gaseous phase, they can be as high as 10 % under specific operational conditions. Submicron particles (PM1) are mainly composed of organics (75 %), black carbon (21 %), and sulfate (4 %) that is not balanced with ammonium. Among the ship-related characteristics investigated, the operational phase is the most influential, with a 3-fold increase in submicron particle (PM1) emissions, along with higher relative contributions of black carbon (BC) and sulfate and the detection of vanadium, nickel, and iron during manoeuvring/navigation compared to at berth. Pollutant levels in the port are higher than those found at the urban background site, with average concentrations of NOx, PM1, and particle numbers up to twice as high in the port. Analysis of the maximum concentrations reveals that pollutants such as SO2 and trace metals, including vanadium and nickel, are 2 to 10 times higher in the port area. This study provides robust support for enhancing source apportionment and emission inventories, both of which are crucial for assessing air, health, and climate impacts of shipping.

Organic gases emitted during the flaming phase of residential wood combustion are characterized individually and by functionality using proton transfer reaction time-of-flight mass spectrometry. The evolution of the organic gases is monitored during photochemical aging. Primary gaseous emissions are dominated by oxygenated species (e.g., acetic acid, acetaldehyde, phenol and methanol), many of which have deleterious health effects and play an important role in atmospheric processes such as secondary organic aerosol formation and ozone production. Residential wood combustion emissions differ considerably from open biomass burning in both absolute magnitude and relative composition. Ratios of acetonitrile, a potential biomass burning marker, to CO are considerably lower ( ∼  0.09 pptv ppbv−1) than those observed in air masses influenced by open burning ( ∼  1–2 pptv ppbv−1), which may make differentiation from background levels difficult, even in regions heavily impacted by residential wood burning. A considerable amount of formic acid forms during aging ( ∼  200–600 mg kg−1 at an OH exposure of (4.5–5.5)  ×  107 molec cm−3 h), indicating residential wood combustion can be an important local source for this acid, the quantities of which are currently underestimated in models. Phthalic anhydride, a naphthalene oxidation product, is also formed in considerable quantities with aging ( ∼  55–75 mg kg−1 at an OH exposure of (4.5–5.5)  ×  107 molec cm−3 h). Although total NMOG emissions vary by up to a factor of  ∼  9 between burns, SOA formation potential does not scale with total NMOG emissions and is similar in all experiments. This study is the first thorough characterization of both primary and aged organic gases from residential wood combustion and provides a benchmark for comparison of emissions generated under different burn parameters.

Gaseous emissions of modern Euro 6d vehicles, when tested within real driving emissions (RDE) boundaries, are, in most cases, at low levels. There are concerns, though, about their emission performance when tested at or above the boundaries of ambient and driving conditions requirements of RDE regulations. In this study, a Euro 6d-Temp gasoline direct injection (GDI) vehicle with three-way catalyst and gasoline particulate filter was tested on the road and in a laboratory at temperatures ranging between −30 °C and 50 °C, with cycles simulating urban congested traffic, uphill driving while towing a trailer at 85% of the vehicle’s maximum payload, and dynamic driving. The vehicle respected the Euro 6 emission limits, even though they were not applicable to the specific cycles, which were outside of the RDE environmental and trip boundary conditions. Most of the emissions were produced during cold starts and at low ambient temperatures. Heavy traffic, dynamic driving, and high payload were found to increase emissions depending on the pollutant. Even though this car was one of the lowest emitting cars found in the literature, the proposed future Euro 7 limits will require a further decrease in cold start emissions in order to ensure low emission levels under most ambient and driving conditions, particularly in urban environments. Nevertheless, motorway emissions will also have to be controlled well.