The impact of photochemical aging on secondary aerosol formation from a marine engine

Andreas Paul, Tuukka Kokkola, Zheng Fang, Mika Ihalainen, Hendryk Czech, Uwe Etzien, Thorsten Hohaus, Olli Sippula, Yinon Rudich, Bert Buchholz, Astrid Kiendler-Scharr, Ralf Zimmerman

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Ship traffic is known as an important contributor to air pollution. Regulations aimed at reducing sulfur oxide pollution by limiting the fuel sulfur content (FSC) may also decrease primary particulate matter (PM) emitted from ships. However, there is a knowledge gap regarding how the FSC affects secondary aerosol formation. The emissions from a research ship engine operated with either low sulfur heavy fuel oil (LS-HFO) (FSC = 0.5%) or marine gas oil (MGO) (FSC = 0.01%), were photochemically processed in the oxidation flow reactor “PEAR” to achieve an equivalent photochemical age between 0 and 9 days in the atmosphere. FSC was found to have no significant impact on secondary organic aerosol formation after 3 days of aging, at 1.7 ± 0.4 g/kg for MGO and 1.5 ± 0.4 g/kg for LS-HFO. Furthermore, the composition and oxidative pathways remained similar regardless of FSC. However, because of the higher secondary SO4 formation and primary aerosol emissions, LS-HFO had significantly higher total PM than MGO.

Original languageEnglish
Article number106
Number of pages6
Journalnpj Climate and Atmospheric Science
Volume8
DOIs
StatePublished - 15 Mar 2025

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Global and Planetary Change
  • Environmental Chemistry
  • Atmospheric Science

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