Research article
16 Nov 2016
Research article | 16 Nov 2016
Emissions of NO, NO2 and PM from inland shipping
Ralf Kurtenbach, Kai Vaupel, Jörg Kleffmann, Ulrich Klenk, Eberhard Schmidt, and Peter Wiesen
Ralf Kurtenbach et al.
Ralf Kurtenbach, Kai Vaupel, Jörg Kleffmann, Ulrich Klenk, Eberhard Schmidt, and Peter Wiesen
- Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Institute for Atmospheric and
Environmental Research, 42097 Wuppertal, Germany
- Bergische Universität Wuppertal, Institute for Atmospheric and
Environmental Research, 42097 Wuppertal, Germany
Correspondence: Ralf Kurtenbach (kurtenba@uni-wuppertal.de)
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Received: 06 Jul 2016 – Discussion started: 22 Jul 2016 – Revised: 04 Oct 2016 – Accepted: 20 Oct 2016 – Published: 16 Nov 2016
Particulate matter (PM) and nitrogen oxides NOx (NOx = NO2+ NO) are key species for urban air quality in Europe and are emitted by mobile sources. According to European recommendations, a significant fraction of road freight should be shifted to waterborne transport in the future. In order to better consider this emission change pattern in future emission inventories, in the present study inland water transport emissions of NOx, CO2 and PM were investigated under real world conditions on the river Rhine, Germany, in 2013. An average NO2 ∕ NOx emission ratio of 0.08 ± 0.02 was obtained, which is indicative of ship diesel engines without exhaust gas aftertreatment systems. For all measured motor ship types and operation conditions, overall weighted average emission indices (EIs), as emitted mass of pollutant per kg burnt fuel of EINOx = 54 ± 4 g kg−1 and a lower limit EIPM1 ≥ 2.0 ± 0.3 g kg−1, were obtained. EIs for NOx and PM1 were found to be in the range of 20–161 and ≥ 0.2–8.1 g kg−1 respectively. A comparison with threshold values of national German guidelines shows that the NOx emissions of all investigated motor ship types are above the threshold values, while the obtained lower limit PM1 emissions are just under. To reduce NOx emissions to acceptable values, implementation of exhaust gas aftertreatment systems is recommended.