Cluster ion concentration in vehicle exhaust gases
2020
Skromulis, A., Rezekne Academy of Technologies (Latvia)
Evaluation of air quality involves both chemical and physical parameters, however, the importance of the physical ones is often undervalued. A specific integral parameter of the physical state of ambient air is the air ion concentration. Air pollution correlates with air ion concentration. Cluster ions and aerosol ions have the most significant impact on human health. Negative cluster ions are considered to be necessary for human well-being. Previous studies in Rezekne city (Latvia) have highlighted the decrease of positive and especially negative air ion concentrations near the most polluted areas, i.e. the main street junctions and the railway station. Air pollution in Rezekne mainly comes from automotive transport. The aim of this study is to determine the concentration of cluster ions emitted directly from the automobile exhaust pipe. Firstly, the air ion concentration near busy traffic was measured. Secondly, the experiment was carried out using two motor vehicles running on three different types of fuel: gasoline, liquified petroleum gas, and diesel. The portable bipolar light ion counter Sapfir-3M was used in the experiments. The results show that the concentration of air ions in direct exhaust gases can be up to ten times higher than the ambient background concentration. In most cases the experiment revealed the predominance of positive ions over the negative ones, and only in some cases the situation was opposite. It was concluded that only the later chemical and physical processes can lead to decrease of air ion concentration due to pollution. In the article several related circumstances are discussed and proposals on further research are defined.
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