Dataset Information

Biofuel blending reduces particle emissions from aircraft engines at cruise conditions.

ABSTRACT: Aviation-related aerosol emissions contribute to the formation of contrail cirrus clouds that can alter upper tropospheric radiation and water budgets, and therefore climate. The magnitude of air-traffic-related aerosol-cloud interactions and the ways in which these interactions might change in the future remain uncertain. Modelling studies of the present and future effects of aviation on climate require detailed information about the number of aerosol particles emitted per kilogram of fuel burned and the microphysical properties of those aerosols that are relevant for cloud formation. However, previous observational data at cruise altitudes are sparse for engines burning conventional fuels, and no data have previously been reported for biofuel use in-flight. Here we report observations from research aircraft that sampled the exhaust of engines onboard a NASA DC-8 aircraft as they burned conventional Jet A fuel and a 50:50 (by volume) blend of Jet A fuel and a biofuel derived from Camelina oil. We show that, compared to using conventional fuels, biofuel blending reduces particle number and mass emissions immediately behind the aircraft by 50 to 70 per cent. Our observations quantify the impact of biofuel blending on aerosol emissions at cruise conditions and provide key microphysical parameters, which will be useful to assess the potential of biofuel use in aviation as a viable strategy to mitigate climate change.

SUBMITTER: Moore RH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8025803 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Biofuel blending reduces particle emissions from aircraft engines at cruise conditions.

Moore Richard H RH Thornhill Kenneth L KL Weinzierl Bernadett B Sauer Daniel D D'Ascoli Eugenio E Kim Jin J Lichtenstern Michael M Scheibe Monika M Beaton Brian B Beyersdorf Andreas J AJ Barrick John J Bulzan Dan D Corr Chelsea A CA Crosbie Ewan E Jurkat Tina T Martin Robert R Riddick Dean D Shook Michael M Slover Gregory G Voigt Christiane C White Robert R Winstead Edward E Yasky Richard R Ziemba Luke D LD Brown Anthony A Schlager Hans H Anderson Bruce E BE

Nature 20170301 7645

Aviation-related aerosol emissions contribute to the formation of contrail cirrus clouds that can alter upper tropospheric radiation and water budgets, and therefore climate. The magnitude of air-traffic-related aerosol-cloud interactions and the ways in which these interactions might change in the future remain uncertain. Modelling studies of the present and future effects of aviation on climate require detailed information about the number of aerosol particles emitted per kilogram of fuel burn ...[more]

PMID: 28300096

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Project description:The SAE International has published Aerospace Information Report (AIR) 6241 which outlined the design and operation of a standardized measurement system for measuring non-volatile particulate matter (nvPM) mass and number emissions from commercial aircraft engines. Prior to this research, evaluation of this system by various investigators revealed differences in nvPM mass emissions measurement on the order of 15-30% both within a single sampling system and between two systems operating in parallel and measuring nvPM mass emissions from the same source. To investigate this issue, the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency in collaboration with the U. S. Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Complex initiated the VAriable Response In Aircraft nvPM Testing (VARIAnT) research program to compare nvPM measurements within and between AIR-compliant sampling systems used for measuring combustion aerosols generated both by a 5201 Mini-CAST soot generator and a J85-GE-5 turbojet engine burning multiple fuels. The VARIAnT research program has conducted four test campaigns to date. The first campaign (VARIAnT 1) compared two essentially identical commercial versions of the sampling system while the second campaign (VARIAnT 2) compared a commercial system to the custom-designed Missouri University of Science and Technology's North American Reference System (NARS) built to the same specifications. Comparisons of nvPM particle mass (i.e., black carbon), number, and size were conducted in both campaigns. Additionally, the sensitivity to variation in system operational parameters was evaluated in VARIAnT 1. Results from both campaigns revealed agreement of about 12% between the two sampling systems, irrespective of manufacturer, in all aspects except for black carbon determination. The major source of measurement differences (20-70%) was due to low BC mass measurements made by the Artium Technologies LII-300 as compared to the AVL 483 Micro-Soot Sensor, the Aerodyne Cavity Attenuated Phase Shift (CAPS PMSSA) monitor, and the thermal-optical reference method for elemental carbon (EC) determination, which was used as the BC reference.

Dataset Information

Biofuel blending reduces particle emissions from aircraft engines at cruise conditions.

Publications

Biofuel blending reduces particle emissions from aircraft engines at cruise conditions.

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