The formation and physical properties of the particle emissions from a natural gas engine

Natural gas engine particle emissions were studied using an old gasoline engine modified to run with natural gas. The tests were steady-state tests performed on two different low loads in an engine dynamometer. Exhaust particle number concentration, size distribution, volatility and electric charge were measured. Exhaust particles were observed to have peak diameters below 10 nm. To get the full picture of particle emissions from natural gas engines, size range 1-5 nm is relevant and important to take into consideration. A particle size magnifier (PSM) was used in this engine application for measuring particles smaller than 3 nm and it proved to be a useful instrument when measuring natural gas engine exhaust particles. It is concluded that the detected particles probably originated from the engine cylinders or their vicinity and grew to detectable sizes in the sampling process because a small fraction of the particles were observed to carry electric charge and the particles did not evaporate totally at 265 °C.