Journal of Earth Sciences and Geotechnical Engineering

Emissions of NO, NO2, and PM from inland water transportation

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• Abstract

   

  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 changed emission pattern in future emission inventories, in the present study, inland water transport emissions of NOx (NOx = NO₂ + NO), CO₂ and PM were investigated under real world conditions at 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 after-treatment systems. For all measured motor ship types and operation conditions overall weighted average emission indices of EINO_x = 54 +- 4 g/kg and a lower limit EIPM₁ = > 2.0 + 0.3 g/kg were obtained. EIs for NOx and PM₁ were found to be in the range of 20–161 g kg^-1    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 just within. To reduce NOx emissions to acceptable values, implementation of aftertreatment systems is recommended.