Effective Density and Volatility of Particles Emitted from Gasoline Direct Injection Vehicles and Implications for Particle Mass Measurement

The effective density and volatility of particulate emissions from five gasoline direct injection (GDI) passenger vehicles were measured using a tandem differential mobility analyzer (DMA) and centrifugal particle mass analyzer (CPMA) system. The measurements were conducted on a chassis dynamometer at three steady-state operating conditions. A thermodenuder was employed to find the volatility and mixing state of the particles as well as the effective density of nascent and non-volatile particles (defined as particle phase remaining after denuding at 200°C). The mass–mobility exponent ranged between 2.4 and 2.7 for nascent (or undenuded) particles and between 2.5 and 2.7 for non-volatile particles; higher than typical diesel soot. The effective density function was 4278d_m^?0.438 ± 76.3 kg/m³ (for mobility diameter, d_m, in nm) for nascent particles and 3215d_m^?0.395 ± 37.9 kg/m³ for non-volatile particles. The effective density functions of the non-volatile particles were fairly similar for the conditions studied. The uncertainty in using the effective density and mixing state data to determine the mass concentration of the aerosol by integrating mobility size distributions was examined. The uncertainty in mass concentration is minimized when only the non-volatile component is measured. However, the uncertainty in the mass concentration increases substantially if nascent particles are measured due to uncertainties in the particle mixing state and their associated effective densities. Furthermore, transient vehicle operation (cold-starts, accelerations, and decelerations) would likely change the mixing state of the exhaust particles suggesting it is difficult to accurately measure the mass concentration of undenuded GDI exhaust particulate using integrated size distribution methods.

Copyright 2015 American Association for Aerosol Research