Chemical and physical properties of ultrafine diesel exhaust particles sampled downstream of a catalytic trap.

The chemical and physical properties of exhaust particles produced by a Caterpillar 3176 C-12 heavy duty diesel engine equipped with a catalytic trap (CRT) are reported. The engine was operated at 600 Nm and 1500 rpm, using fuels containing 15 and 49 ppm sulfur. A two-stage dilution tunnel designed to simulate the reactions that occur when hot combustion products mix with cooler atmospheric air was used. Particle size distributions were measured using a scanning mobility particle sizer (SMPS) and nano-scanning mobility particle sizer (nano SMPS); a nanomicro-orifice uniform deposit impactor (nano MOUDI) collected size-resolved samples for gravimetric and chemical analysis. A nanometer tandem differential mobility analyzer (nano TDMA) was used to measure the volatility and hygroscopicity of 4-15 nm particles. These measurements confirm that the particles consisted primarily of sulfates.