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Comparison of measurement methods for the characterization of the black carbon emissions from a T63 turboshaft engine burning conventional and Fischer-Tropsch fuel
Citation:
Kinsey, J., E. Corporan, J. Pavlovic, M. DeWitt, C. Klingshirn, AND R. Logan. Comparison of measurement methods for the characterization of the black carbon emissions from a T63 turboshaft engine burning conventional and Fischer-Tropsch fuel. JOURNAL OF THE AIR & WASTE MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION. Air & Waste Management Association, Pittsburgh, PA, 69(5):576-591, (2019).
Impact/Purpose:
The fine particulate matter (PM) generated by commercial aircraft engines can create problems for both the local air quality around airports and contribute to the formation of contrails and contrail-induced cirrus clouds. To reduce these emissions, accurate black carbon emission measurements are needed to certify new and in-production commercial aircraft engines. Both the Artium LII-300 and AVL 483 Micro Soot Sensor are currently approved by the International Civil Aviation Organization for this purpose. This study compares the two instruments against elemental carbon (EC) using NIOSH Method 5040 as the reference using a T63 turboshaft engine. The results indicate that both instruments correlate reasonably well to EC, and the correlation substantially improved when applying a calibration against a common aerosol source. Sensitivity to particle size may be an issue for both instruments in the future since newer engines will produce smaller particles compared to the T63 model tested in this study.
Description:
Emission measurements of black carbon (BC) mass were conducted on a T63 turboshaft engine, operated at idle and cruise power with conventional and alternative fuels, using an Artium LII-300 laser induced incandescence (LII) analyzer and AVL Model 483 Micro Soot Sensor (MSS) photoacoustic instrument using the manufacturer’s calibration for both instruments. These measurements were compared to elemental carbon (EC) determined by manual and semi-continuous thermal-optical transmission analyses according to National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) Method 5040 as the reference method. The results indicate that both the LII and MSS instruments show good linear correlation to NIOSH EC for the two fuels and two engine power conditions evaluated. The LII measurements were observed to be biased high (27- 49%), while the MSS measurements were biased low (24 - 35%) relative to the NIOSH EC. The agreement between the instruments and the reference method was substantially improved by applying a calibration of the instruments against a common BC aerosol source. Test data also suggest that the two instruments show some sensitivity to particle size (or properties related to size), specifically for particles with a geometric mean diameter (GMD) < 30 nm. This sensitivity is problematic since newer engines will produce smaller particles compared to the T63 model tested in this study. Further assessments of instrument performance for particles within this size range are therefore warranted.
URLs/Downloads:
Free access through PubMed Central
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10962247.2018.1556188