A comparative investigation of ultrafine particle number and mass emissions from a fleet of on-road diesel and CNG buses

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 past the 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°C. © 2008 American Chemical Society.