ABSTRACT
Ammonia, a significant precursor for secondary inorganic aerosols, plays a pivotal role in new particle formation. Inventories and source apportionment studies have identified vehicular exhaust as a primary source of atmospheric ammonia in urban regions. Existing research on the factors influencing ammonia emissions from gasoline vehicles exhibits substantial inconsistencies in both test results and analyses. The lack of a uniform pattern in ammonia emissions across different standard vehicles and the significant overlap in test results across diverse operational conditions highlight the complexities in this field of study. While individual results can be interpreted through a mechanistic lens, disparate studies often lack a common explanatory framework. To address this gap, our study leverages the robust and comprehensive approach of meta-analysis to reconcile these inconsistencies and provide a more precise understanding of the factors influencing ammonia emissions from gasoline vehicles. A large number (N = 537) of ammonia emission factors were extracted after screening >1628 publications. The combined ammonia emission factor was 23.57 ± 24.94 mg/km. Emission standards, engine type, ambient temperatures, mileage, vehicle speed, and engine displacement have a significant impact on ammonia emission factors, explaining the ammonia emission factor by up to 50.63 %, with speed being the most significant factor. All these factors are attributed to the interplay of catalyst properties, lambda, and residence time (space velocity). In the current fleet, ammonia emission control is relatively insufficient under low-speed and ultra-high speed, low temperature, and ultra-high mileage conditions. Since ammonia emission factors do not monotonically decrease with the upgrading of motor vehicle emission standards, it is called for the addition of ammonia emission factors indicators in motor vehicle emission standards, and stipulation of targeted testing procedures and testing instruments.
ABSTRACT
Electrochemical methods can help manage sulfide in wastewater, which poses environmental and health concerns due to its toxicity, malodor, and corrosiveness. In addition, sulfur could be recovered as fertilizer and commodity chemicals from sulfide-containing wastewaters. Wastewater characteristics vary widely among wastewaters; however, it remains unclear how these characteristics affect electrochemical sulfate production. In this study, we evaluated how four characteristics of influent wastewaters (electrolyte pH, composition, sulfide concentration, and buffer strength) affect sulfide removal (sulfide removal rate, sulfide removal efficiency) and sulfate production metrics (sulfate production rate, sulfate production selectivity). We identified that electrolyte pH (3 × difference, i.e., 25.1 to 84.9 µM h-1 in average removal rate within the studied pH range) and sulfide concentration (16 × difference, i.e., 82.1 to 1347.2 µM h-1 in average removal rate) were the most influential factors for electrochemical sulfide removal. Sulfate production was most sensitive to buffer strength (6 × difference, i.e., 4.4 to 27.4 µM h-1 in average production rate) and insensitive to electrolyte composition. Together, these results provide recommendations for the design of wastewater treatment trains and the feasibility of applying electrochemical methods to varying sulfide-containing wastewaters. In addition, we investigated a simultaneous multi-nutrient (sulfur and nitrogen) process that leverages electrochemical stripping to further enhance the versatility and compatibility of electrochemical nutrient recovery.
ABSTRACT
The chlorine evolution reaction (CER) is a key reaction in electrochemical oxidation (EO) of water treatment. Conventional anodes based on platinum group metals can be prohibitively expensive, which hinders further application of EO systems. Crystalline cobalt antimonate (CoSbxOy) was recently identified as a promising alternative to conventional anodes due to its high catalytic activity and stability in acidic media. However, its catalytic sites and reaction mechanism have not yet been elucidated. This study sheds light on the catalytically active sites in crystalline CoSbxOy anodes by using scanning electrochemical microscopy to compare the CER catalytic activities of a series of anode samples with different bulk Sb/Co ratios (from 1.43 to 2.80). The results showed that Sb sites served as more active catalytic sites than the Co sites. The varied Sb/Co ratios were also linked with slightly different electronic states of each element, leading to different CER selectivities in 30 mM chloride solutions under 10 mA cm-2 current density. The high activity of Sb sites toward the CER highlighted the significance of the electronic polarization that changed the oxidation states of Co and Sb.
ABSTRACT
Road dust, a significant contributor to non-exhaust particulate matter emissions in urban transport, poses considerable health risks, necessitating accurate and high-resolution data for effective control. The traditional AP-42 method offers data on point-specific dust emissions, while vehicle-based testing ascertains the relative emission intensity in the road network. However, a clear mathematical relationship between these measurements has been elusive, limiting efficiency in emission control. By integrating the On-board Conventional Pollutant Monitoring System with the AP-42 method, we devised a dynamic link between the concentration of particles in vehicle plumes and actual road dust emissions. This relationship is substantiated by a notable correlation (R2 = 0.91) between our emission factors and those calculated using the AP-42 method. Significant variations emerged in dust emission factors across road types, with changes between -30.1 % to +57.79 % from the average (0.05 g·vehicle-1·km-1), in tandem with traffic flow fluctuations of approximately ±90 %. Meteorological factors, except for continuous rainfall, showed minimal impact on dust emissions. However, our findings revealed a significant underestimation (58.87 %) of road dust PM10 emissions by the AP-42 method. Intriguingly, we found that short-range emission hotspots substantially contribute to total emissions, suggesting a potential 50 % reduction by controlling merely 8.8 % ± 2.5 % of the total road length. Our research elucidates the interplay between road dust emissions, road types, and human activities. The application of a dynamic, high-resolution assessment method enhances our understanding of the impacts of road dust on urban particulate pollution, allows accurate hotspot identification, and aids in developing efficacious strategies for air quality enhancement.
