• Energy Research

A technique for capturing and analyzing plumes from unmodified aircraft or other combustion sources under real world conditions is described and applied to the task of characterizing plumes from commercial aircraft during the taxiing phase of the Landing/Take-Off (LTO) cycle. The method utilizes a Plume Capture and Analysis System (PCAS) mounted in a four-wheel drive vehicle which is positioned in the airfield 60 to 180 m downwind of aircraft operations. The approach offers low test turnaround times with the ability to complete careful measurements of particle and gaseous emission factors and sequentially scanned particle size distributions without distortion due to plume concentration fluctuations. These measurements can be performed for individual aircraft movements at five minute intervals. A Plume Capture Device (PCD) collected samples of the naturally diluted plume in a 200 L conductive membrane conforming to a defined shape. Samples from over 60 aircraft movements were collected and analyzed in situ for particulate and gaseous concentrations and for particle size distribution using a Scanning Particle Mobility Sizer (SMPS). Emission factors are derived for particle number, NO(x), and PM2.5 for a widely used commercial aircraft type, Boeing 737 airframes with predominantly CFM56 class engines, during taxiing. The practical advantages of the PCAS include the capacity to perform well targeted and controlled emission factor and size distribution measurements using instrumentation with varying response times within an airport facility, in close proximity to aircraft during their normal operations.

Particle number, particle mass, and CO2 concentrations were measured on the curb of a busy urban busway used entirely by a mix of diesel and CNG operated buses. With the passage of each bus, the ratio of particle number concentration and particle mass concentration to CO2 concentration in the diluted exhaust plume were used as measures of the particle number and mass emission factors, respectively. With all buses accelerating pastthe monitoring point, the results showed that the median particle mass emission from CNG buses was less than 9% of that from diesel buses. However, the median particle number emission from CNG buses was 6 times higher than the diesel buses, and the particles from the CNG buses were mainly in the nanoparticle size range. Using a thermodenuder to remove the volatile material from the sampled emissions showed that the majority of particles from the CNG buses, but not from the diesel buses, were volatile. Approximately, 82% of the particles from the CNG buses and 38% from the diesel buses were removed by heating the emissions to 300 degrees C.

Abstract Published particle number emission factors for aircraft operations remain very sparse and so far such emissions have not been included in the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) databases. This work addresses this gap in knowledge by utilizing recent progress in the quantification of aircraft particle emissions. Annual emissions of particle number (PN), particle mass (PM2.5) and NOx throughout the aircraft landing and takeoff (LTO) cycles and ground running procedures (GRP) are presented for aircraft using Brisbane Airport BNE (domestic and international). The aircraft are grouped according to an airframe based classification system. The resulting data are then used to develop an emissions inventory for large aircraft thrust engine operations on the ground, during LTO cycles and GRP, at the Airport. Annual PN, PM2.5 and NOx emissions from large aircraft operations during LTO cycles and GRP at BNE were 1.98 × 1024 yr−1, 1.35 × 104 kg yr−1 and 8.13 × 105 kg yr−1, respectively. Results showed that LTO cycles contribute more than 97% of these annual emissions at BNE in comparison to GRP related emissions. Analysis of the LTO cycle contribution to the daily emissions showed that the contribution of the climbout mode is considerably higher than for other individual LTO operational modes. Emissions during aircraft departures were significantly higher than those during arrival operations, due to the higher aircraft engine emission rates during takeoff and climbout.