Hazardous particles during diesel engine cold-start and warm-up: Characterisation of particulate mass and number under the impact of biofuel and lubricating oil

Ali Zare; Meisam Babaie; Alireza Shirneshan; Puneet Verma; Liping Yang; Zoran D Ristovski; Richard J Brown; Timothy A Bodisco; Svetlana Stevanovic

doi:10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.132516

Hazardous particles during diesel engine cold-start and warm-up: Characterisation of particulate mass and number under the impact of biofuel and lubricating oil

J Hazard Mater. 2023 Oct 15:460:132516. doi: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.132516. Epub 2023 Sep 9.

Authors

Ali Zare¹, Meisam Babaie², Alireza Shirneshan³, Puneet Verma⁴, Liping Yang⁵, Zoran D Ristovski⁶, Richard J Brown⁷, Timothy A Bodisco⁸, Svetlana Stevanovic⁹

Affiliations

¹ School of Engineering, Deakin University, VIC 3216, Australia. Electronic address: ali_z4688@yahoo.com.
² School of Mechanical Engineering, University of Leeds, Leeds, United Kingdom.
³ Department of Mechanical Engineering, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Iran; Aerospace and Energy Conversion Research Center, Najafabad Branch, Islamic Azad University, Najafabad, Iran.
⁴ School of Populations and Global Health, The University of Western Australia, Perth, WA 6009, Australia.
⁵ Institute of Power and Energy Engineering, Harbin Engineering University, No. 145-1, Nantong Street, Nangang District, Harbin 150001, China.
⁶ Biofuel Engine Research Facility, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), QLD 4000 Australia; International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), QLD 4000, Australia.
⁷ Biofuel Engine Research Facility, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), QLD 4000 Australia.
⁸ Biofuel Engine Research Facility, Queensland University of Technology (QUT), QLD 4000 Australia; University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
⁹ School of Engineering, Deakin University, VIC 3216, Australia.

PMID: 37703733
DOI: 10.1016/j.jhazmat.2023.132516

Abstract

The increasing share of using biofuels in vehicles (mandated by current regulations) leads to a reduction in particle size, resulting in increased particle toxicity. However, existing regulations disregarded small particles (sub-23 nm) that are more toxic. This impact is more significant during vehicle cold-start operation, which is an inevitable frequent daily driving norm where after-treatment systems prove ineffective. This study investigates the impact of biofuel and lubricating oil (as a source of nanoparticles) on the concentration, size distribution, median diameter of PN and PM, and their proportion at size ranges within accumulation and nucleation modes during four phases of cold-start and warm-up engine operation (diesel-trucks/busses application). The fuels used were 10% and 15% biofuel and with the addition of 5% lubricating oil to the fuel. Results show that as the engine warms up, PN for all the fuels increases and the size of particles decreases. PN concentration with a fully warmed-up engine was up to 132% higher than the cold-start. Sub-23 nm particles accounted for a significant proportion of PN (9%) but a smaller proportion of PM (0.1%). The fuel blend with 5% lubricating oil showed a significant increase in PN concentration and a decrease in particle size during cold-start.

Keywords: Biofuel; Cold-start; Diesel engine; Lubricating oil; PN and particle size distribution.