Where did that soot come from?

Abstract

Particulate emission from gas turbines, diesel engines, and other combustion sources are major contributors to air contamination in industrial and urban environments. Such particles (often described as soots) typically account for 1-4 µg/m³ of atmospheric inhalable particulate matter, the total concentration of which is usually in the 20-60 µg/m³ range. Although responsible for only a small fraction of the total ambient particulate concentration, soot is important because it absorbs polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) with four rings or more, some of which are well-known carcinogens and acts as a carrier of these compounds into the lung. Soot is also a component in ambient aerosols, which are primarily responsible for the absorption of visible radiation and thus for visibility degradation. Full characterization of soot particles is necessary to accurately allocate soot and to monitor soot-generating processes. The physical and chemical characteristics of carbonaceous particles in the atmosphere contain information on their origin that can be used for source attribution. The same characteristics also relate to the operational parameters (combustion temperature, air/fuel ratio, fuel composition, exhaust gas cooling rate) of the soot-generating combustion processes.

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