Online characterization of regulated and unregulated gaseous and particulate exhaust emissions from two-stroke mopeds: A chemometric approach

Two-stroke mopeds are a popular and convenient mean of transport in particular in the highly populated cities. These vehicles can emit potentially toxic gaseous and aerosol pollutants due to their engine technology. The legislative measurements of moped emissions are based on offline methods; however, the online characterization of gas and particulate phases offers great possibilities to understand aerosol formation mechanism and to adapt future emission standards. The purpose of this work was to study the emission behavior of two mopeds complying with different European emission standards (EURO-1 and EURO-2). A sophisticated set of online analyzers was applied to simultaneously monitor the gas phase and particulate phase of exhaust on a real time basis. The gaseous emission was analyzed with a high resolution Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR; nitrogen species) and a resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometer (REMPI-ToF-MS; polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons: PAH), whereas the particulate phase was chemically characterized by a high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS; organic, nitrate and chloride aerosol) and a multiangle absorption photometer (MAAP; black carbon). The physical characterization of the aerosol was carried out with a condensation particle counter (CPC; particle number concentration) and a fast mobility particle sizer (FMPS; size distribution in real time). In order to extract underlying correlation between gas and solid emissions, principal component analysis was applied to the comprehensive online dataset. Multivariate analysis highlighted the considerable effect of the exhaust temperature on the particles and heavy PAH emissions. The results showed that the after-treatment used to comply with the latest EURO-2 emission standard may be responsible for the production of more potentially harmful particles compared to the EURO-1 moped emissions.

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► We monitor on real-time basis gas and particulate phases of moped exhaust.
► Two mopeds complying with EURO-1 and EURO-2 emission standards are studied.
► Multivariate data analysis highlighted the effect of temperature on the particles and heavy PAH emissions.
► The more recent after-treatment device may generate potentially harmful particles.