Development of Advanced Aerosol Instrumentation

先进气溶胶仪器的开发

• 批准号: RGPIN-2020-03957
• 负责人: Olfert, Jason
• 金额: $ 4.01万
• 依托单位: University of Alberta
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2021-01-01 至 2022-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=739589
• 关键词: Development; Advanced; Aerosol; Instrumentation

According to the World Health Organization, outdoor and indoor air pollution was estimated to cause ~7.2 million premature deaths worldwide per year in 2016, primarily due to exposure to particulate matter (PM), which causes cardiovascular and respiratory disease, and cancers. Air pollution is the largest environmental cause of disease and premature death in the world. Air pollution is responsible for more deaths than a high-sodium diet, obesity, AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria, alcohol, tobacco, road accidents, child and maternal malnutrition, or war and all forms of violence. The Canadian Government estimates 14,400 Canadians die from the effects of air pollution each year and the annual economic cost of the effects of air pollution is ~$8 billion. Furthermore, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change states that soot (carbonaceous PM) plays a major role in global climate forcing and the impacts of climate change "include alteration of ecosystems, disruption of food production and water supply, damage to infrastructure and settlements, morbidity and mortality". The negative effects of PM can be reduced through technological advancements and regulations. However, these reductions are not possible without instruments to quantify PM emissions and understand their properties. The primary focus of my research has been developing novel aerosol instruments and techniques to quantify emissions and understand the effect PM has on health and climate so that appropriate environmental policies and regulations can be developed. The goals of this Discovery Grant are to develop and use new analytical techniques in two important research areas, namely: low-cost PM sensor calibration and the climate impact of soot. i) Low-cost PM sensor calibration - Given that air pollution is a major global problem, there has been a recent explosion in the development of low-cost PM sensors. These systems are used for building ventilation (filtration) control, monitoring PM in urban areas, workplace hazard and exposure identification, and engine emissions monitoring. However, low-cost PM sensor technology is still in its infancy and sensor developers are using indirect measurement techniques to measure the mass of the particles. Thus, a system is necessary to calibrate or characterization these sensors. This proposal investigates two methods for calibrating these sensors. ii) Mixing state and optical properties of coated soot - One large source of uncertainty in climate models is due to organic material coating soot in the atmosphere. Coatings on soot create two competing effects on soot optical properties. The coating may cause a `lensing' effect due to enhanced refraction (enhancing climate warming) and/or may cause the soot to `collapse' due to surface tension (decreasing warming). This proposal uses novel instrumentation to measure and understand the magnitude of these effects and understand the relative importance of these effects in the atmosphere.

据世界卫生组织称，2016 年，室外和室内空气污染估计每年导致全球约 720 万人过早死亡，主要是由于接触颗粒物 (PM)，颗粒物会导致心血管和呼吸道疾病以及癌症。空气污染是世界上导致疾病和过早死亡的最大环境原因。与高钠饮食、肥胖、艾滋病、肺结核、疟疾、酒精、烟草、交通事故、儿童和孕产妇营养不良、战争和各种形式的暴力相比，空气污染造成的死亡人数更多。加拿大政府估计每年有 14,400 名加拿大人死于空气污染的影响，空气污染影响的年度经济成本约为 80 亿加元。此外，政府间气候变化专门委员会指出，烟尘（碳质颗粒物）在全球气候强迫和气候变化的影响中发挥着重要作用，“包括生态系统的改变、粮食生产和供水的破坏、基础设施和住区的破坏、发病率”和死亡率”。通过技术进步和法规可以减少 PM 的负面影响。然而，如果没有量化 PM 排放并了解其特性的仪器，这些减排是不可能实现的。我研究的主要重点是开发新型气溶胶仪器和技术来量化排放并了解 PM 对健康和气候的影响，以便制定适当的环境政策和法规。该发现补助金的目标是在两个重要研究领域开发和使用新的分析技术，即：低成本颗粒物传感器校准和烟尘对气候的影响。 i) 低成本 PM 传感器校准 - 鉴于空气污染是一个主要的全球问题，最近低成本 PM 传感器的开发出现了爆炸式增长。这些系统用于建筑通风（过滤）控制、城市地区颗粒物监测、工作场所危险和暴露识别以及发动机排放监测。然而，低成本颗粒物传感器技术仍处于起步阶段，传感器开发商正在使用间接测量技术来测量颗粒质量。因此，需要一个系统来校准或表征这些传感器。该提案研究了两种校准这些传感器的方法。 ii) 涂层烟灰的混合状态和光学特性 - 气候模型中不确定性的一大来源是大气中有机材料涂层烟灰。烟灰上的涂层对烟灰的光学特性产生两种相互竞争的影响。涂层可能由于增强的折射（加剧气候变暖）而导致“透镜”效应和/或可能由于表面张力（减少变暖）而导致烟灰“塌陷”。该提案使用新颖的仪器来测量和了解这些影响的程度，并了解这些影响在大气中的相对重要性。