Do you know which one pollutes the air more: Car exhaust fumes or use of the auxiliary heater?
Few of us know that the emissions of the car auxiliary heaters can be even higher than those coming from the car exhaust pipes. So far, research into emissions from car auxiliary heaters has been scarce: The situation is now changing when Panu Karjalainen’s project studying the fuel-powered auxiliary heaters starts yielding results.
Fuel-powered auxiliary heaters are car accessories that preheat both the vehicle interior and the engine before driving. They are powered by the car battery and take their fuel from the car’s fuel tank, and no separate mains current is needed. Although the share of the auxiliary heaters out of the particle emissions of the entire car traffic can be considerable, their emissions are not regulated by law in any way.
Particle emissions and their measurement methods under investigation
Aerosol scientist and Senior Research Fellow Panu Karjalainen, who is specialized in the research on particle emissions and their measurements methods, studies the emissions of car auxiliary heaters and their measurement methods.
– My research focuses especially on the emissions of fuel-powered auxiliary heaters. There are a lot of heaters in cars now, their number is even increasing, and their emissions can be high. These emissions have not been studied much, however, as opposed to the emissions coming from the car exhaust pipe that have exact emission limits, explains Karjalainen.
The study calculates how high emission factors the heaters cause for different particle and gas components. According to Karjalainen, the study also aims to find out their effect on urban air quality in the winter through direct measurements utilizing mass spectrometry, with which the information on the composition of the particle and gas phase emissions can be exactly calculated.
– Identifying different sources of particles in open air is an extremely challenging task, and we will apply different kinds of statistical and machine learning methods, such as factor analysis, in our data analysis, Karjalainen says.
Aiming to decrease health problems caused by traffic emissions
Health problems caused by air pollution are among the greatest challenges of humankind. Solutions to decrease emissions have been developed, but their becoming more common takes its time, particularly in a global scale. Also locally, for example in a country like Finland, change can be slow when the cold conditions create a need for additional heating. In the future, Karjalainen is interested in continuing research and method development connected to particle emissions.
– I’m also interested in exploring human exposure to pollutants coming from emission sources both outdoor and indoor, and how the total exposure load can be decreased. I think that there’s still a lot we can do by developing technology and partly also by changing attitudes.
Keywords: auxiliary heaters, emissions, particle emissions, air pollution, traffic, Tampere University, Tampere Institute for Advanced Study