Dust on the Tracks: Diesel PM and dust emission factors from in-service rail
Abstract
Recent proposals to increase rail traffic in the Pacific Northwest for coal export highlight the uncertainties in emission factors for Diesel Particulate Matter (DPM) and coal dust. As such, we proposed a project to examine these emission factors at several sites in Washington State. Because local regulatory agencies were not able to support this work, we used 'crowd funding' (Microryza.com) as a means to support this project. Measurements started in July 2013 at a house, approximately 25 meters from the railroad tracks in the Puget Sound region. We measured size segregated PM as a means to separate out the emissions of DPM from coal dust, and combine this with measurements of CO2, and meteorology. We also used a motion activated video camera to identify each train type (freight, passenger, full coal train, empty coal train). Our early data indicate that when a train passes, we see a strong spike in all sizes of particulate matter along with CO2. This spike lasts a few minutes as the train passes. Using 10 second data, we find an excellent correlation (R2 generally 0.8 or better) between PM1 and CO2, with an average slope of ca 1.1 ug/m3 per ppmv (range 0-5.5 ug/m3 per ppmv, n=178). This slope can be used to derive a fuel based DPM emission factor. As we collect more data, we will further examine it to compare to published DPM emission factors for trains and examine whether we can identify a larger size in the aerosol distribution that might be associated with lofting coal dust from uncovered coal trains.
- Publication:
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AGU Fall Meeting Abstracts
- Pub Date:
- December 2013
- Bibcode:
- 2013AGUFM.A44E..02J
- Keywords:
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- 0305 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE Aerosols and particles;
- 0345 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE Pollution: urban and regional;
- 0312 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE Air/sea constituent fluxes;
- 0365 ATMOSPHERIC COMPOSITION AND STRUCTURE Troposphere: composition and chemistry