Aircraft hydrocarbon emissions at Oakland International Airport.

To help airports improve emission inventory data, speciated hydrocarbon emission indices have been measured from in-use commercial, airfreight, and general aviation aircraft at Oakland International Airport. The compounds reported here include formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, ethene, propene, and benzene. At idle, the magnitude of hydrocarbon emission indices was variable and reflected differences in engine technology, actual throttle setting, and ambient temperature. Scaling the measured emission indices to the simultaneously measured formaldehyde (HCHO) emission index eliminated most of the observed variability. This result supports a uniform hydrocarbon emissions profile across engine types when the engine is operating near idle, which can greatly simplify how speciated hydrocarbons are handled in emission inventories. The magnitude of the measured hydrocarbon emission index observed in these measurements (ambient temperature range 12-22 degrees C) is a factor of 1.5-2.2 times larger than the certification benchmarks. Using estimates of operational fuel flow rates at idle, this analysis suggests that current emission inventories at the temperatures encountered at this airport underestimate hydrocarbon emissions from the idle phase of operation by 16-45%.

Field-deployable, high-resolution, time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer.

The development of a new high-resolution time-of-flight aerosol mass spectrometer (HR-ToF-AMS) is reported. The high-resolution capabilities of this instrument allow the direct separation of most ions from inorganic and organic species at the same nominal m/z, the quantification of several types of organic fragments (CxHy, CxHyOz, CxHyNp, CxHyOzNp), and the direct identification of organic nitrogen and organosulfur content. This real-time instrument is field-deployable, and its high time resolution (0.5 Hz has been demonstrated) makes it well-suited for studies in which time resolution is critical, such as aircraft studies. The instrument has two ion optical modes: a single-reflection configuration offers higher sensitivity and lower resolving power (up to approximately 2100 at m/z 200), and a two-reflectron configuration yields higher resolving power (up to approximately 4300 at m/z 200) with lower sensitivity. The instrument also allows the determination of the size distributions of all ions. One-minute detection limits for submicrometer aerosol are <0.04 microg m(-3) for all species in the high-sensitivity mode and <0.4 microg m(-3) in the high-resolution mode. Examples of ambient aerosol data are presented from the SOAR-1 study in Riverside, CA, in which the spectra of ambient organic species are dominated by CxHy and CxHyOz fragments, and different organic and inorganic fragments at the same nominal m/z show different size distributions. Data are also presented from the MIRAGE C-130 aircraft study near Mexico City, showing high correlation with independent measurements of surrogate aerosol mass concentration.