Formation potential of vehicle exhaust nucleation mode particles on-road and in the laboratory

A mobile laboratory equipped with gas analysers, a particle number counter and a scanning mobility particle sizer was employed to measure the exhaust particle size distributions of a diesel Euro III passenger car, chasing its exhaust plume on a high-speed track at 50, 100 and 120 km h−1. Emissions from the same vehicle were also measured in the laboratory under the same driving conditions, using a partial flow sampling system with constant sampling conditions. The vehicle was equipped with an oxidation catalyst and was operated on diesel fuel with 280 ppm wt. sulphur content. Similar results for the exhaust aerosol behaviour were found in both sampling environments, despite the different dilution ratio, sampling temperature and residence time of the aerosol in dilute conditions. A relatively constant soot particle mode was formed in all cases and, in addition, a nucleation mode started to form at 100 km h−1 and became more stable at 120 km h−1. No nucleation mode was observed at 50 km h−1 road load. The similar behaviour of nucleation mode particles both in the chasing and the laboratory tests indicated that such small volatile particles are a true vehicle emission component and not a dilution artefact. Additional measurements in the laboratory with varying engine load revealed that the nucleation mode formation is sensitive to exhaust gas temperature and its occurrence in increased temperature is repeatable and stable for long sampling times. The findings of this study indicate that nucleation mode particles are an actual emission component of diesel passenger cars and they need to be considered in relevant exhaust aerosol characterization studies.