A transformer fire occurred in a state office building in Binghamton, NY on February 5, 1981. Particulates from inside surfaces of ceiling panels on 16 of the 17 floors had concentrations of polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDFs) ranging from less than 1 part per million (ppm) to 1200 ppm while polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) concentrations varied from 28 ppm to 23,000 ppm. In spite of the wide v...

Epidemiological and toxicological studies have shown a relation between the inhalation of atmospheric particles and adverse cardiopulmonary health effects. The generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS) by particles is one current hypothesis for their toxic effects. Thus a quantitative measurement of ROS is important since that will be an index to assess the oxidative stress that particles may...

Anthropogenic and biogenic gas emissions contribute to the formation of secondary organic aerosol (SOA). When present, soot particles from fossil fuel combustion can acquire a coating of SOA. We investigate SOA-soot biogenic-anthropogenic interactions and their impact on ice nucleation in relation to the particles' organic phase state. SOA particles were generated from the OH oxidation of napht...

Number fractions of externally mixed particles of four different sizes (30, 50, 80, and 150 nm in diameter) were measured using a Volatility Tandem DMA. The system was operated in a street canyon (Eisenbahnstrasse, EI) and at an urban background site (Institute for Tropospheric Research, IfT), both in the city of Leipzig, Germany as well as at a rural site (Melpitz (ME), a village near Leipzig)...

Direct injection Diesel-style engines emit solid-phase carbonaceous particulate matter (i.e. soot) at levels that negatively impact both climate change and personal health. Although advances in injection technology have increased atomization and mixing of the injected fuel jet, which reduces local equivalence ratios and decreases soot formation, aftertreatment is still required. This in turn ha...

[1] The global debris layer created by the end-Cretaceous impact at Chicxulub contained enough soot to indicate that the entire terrestrial biosphere had burned. Preliminary modeling showed that the reentry of ejecta would have caused a global infrared (IR) pulse sufficient to ignite global fires within a few hours of the Chicxulub impact. This heat pulse and subsequent fires explain the terres...

Investigations into the chemical composition of soot particles often rely on samples extracted from the flame environment for subsequent analysis by mass spectrometry. These mass spectra have contributed to the general consensus that polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) are involved in soot nucleation and surface growth processes. In the pioneering work of Dobbins et al., soot and soot precu...

Nowadays, the major challenge of diesel engines development is simultaneous nitrogen oxides and soot emissions reduction without the thermal efficiency drop. Hence, different combustion concepts should be investigated to reach optimum emission and performance conditions in diesel engines without expensive aftertreatment systems. This paper presents the results of a study on a dual fuel (DF) eng...