The existence of particles with diameter under 10m in air is strongly correlated with respiratory diseases. These particles are profusely produced by heating systems, traffic, and Diesel engines creating a serious problem to modern cities. Natural mechanisms removing particles from the atmosphere are too slow to deal with the huge amount of particles daily released by human activity. The objective of this work is to measure the effectiveness of a new technology called Counterfog (R) to eliminate airborne particles. The results show that Counterfog (R) is able to wash out PM10, PM5, and PM2.5 Diesel-generated airborne particles quite efficiently.This work has been funded by the FP7-SEC-2012-1 program of the EU Commission under grant number 312804

Llerena Aguilar, F. J.

Martin Perez, T.

Perez Diaz, Jose Luis

Ruiz Navas, Elisa Maria

Sánchez García-Casarrubios, Juan

Air Quality Atmosphere & Health

English

Pérez Díaz, José Luis

Ruiz Navas, Elisa María

Universidad Carlos III de Madrid e-Archivo

1  Decontamination of Diesel particles from air by using the Counterfog system J.L. Pérez-Díaz1, F. Llerena1, T. Martín-Pérez2, J. Sánchez-García-Casarrubios1, E. Ruiz-Navas3, I. Valiente-Blanco3,4 1 Universidad de Alcalá, Departamento de Teoría de la Señal y Comunicaciones, Escuela Politécnica Superior, Universidad de Alcalá, 28805 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain. 2 Universidad de Alcalá, Departamento de Biomedicina y Biotecnología, Facultad de Farmacia, Universidad de Alcalá, 28805 Alcalá de Henares, Madrid, Spain. 3 Universidad Carlos III de Madrid, Instituto Pedro Juan de Lastanosa, Avda. Universidad 30, 28911 Leganés, Madrid, Spain. 4 Author to whom any correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: Keywords: Diesel exhaust particles, PM2.5, PM10, Counterfog,    Abstract  Introduction There is a serious health risk associated with exposure to micron-sized solid particles in suspension (Dockery et al 1993, Pope et al 1995, WHO 2013). Direct exposure includes direct inhalation from air or ingestion of those deposited on food (EEA 2017). It is generally admitted that particles with a diameter lower than 10 μm (known as PM10) can penetrate the respiratory system, reaching high respiratory tract and bronchi while those under 2.5μm can reach bronchioles and alveoli (Nel 2005). The presence of solid particles floating in air is especially severe. It has been demonstrated that exhaust and non-exhaust traffic related particles contribute almost equally to this problem (Grigoratos and Martini 2014). Non-exhaust traffic particles are originated by brakes, clutches, tires, roads and resuspended material. Exhaust particles are usually associated with the combustion process of Diesel engines and heating systems (Giechaskiel et al 2009).  Natural mechanisms removing particles from the atmosphere are known to be dry deposition or fallout and scavenging. The first one is produced by gravity driving solid particles down, while in the second phenomenon particles act as condensation nuclei to 2  create water raindrops that eventually fall. These raindrops may supposedly wash out other particles and droplets as they fall (Allaby 2002). However, it is well-known that raindrops are not very effective removing micron sized particles which can remain floating in air for days (Greenfield 1956).  Thermal inversion in the atmosphere hinders the scattering of pollutant particles from urban areas to others as well (EEA 2012). Recently, a new technology based on the interaction of fogs with the polluted air -called “Counterfog”- has been proposed to reduce the concentration of air pollutants in large areas (Martín-Pérez et al 2017, Pérez-Díaz et al 2017, Sánchez-García-Casarrubios et al 2017). Using just water and compressed air Counterfog creates a conic jet of fog composed of micron-sized droplets that are claimed to wash out particles from the surrounding air (Pérez-Díaz application EP 17382293). Such effectiveness is based on the use of droplets of the size similar to those particles to remove by aggregation with the water droplets. Counterfog uses just water and air maximizing environmental friendship. In the present work the effectiveness of such a system to remove exhaust particles from air is tested in laboratory. Methods Fog Dynamics Laboratory The tests were carried out at the Fog Dynamics Laboratory financed by FP7-SEC-2012-1 program of the EU Commission under grant number 312804. This laboratory is designed to create different kind of fogs using the Counterfog system (Figure 1). The laboratory has two test rooms that can be isolated from the outside climatic conditions. The test room dimensions are 2.46 m x 3.10 m x 2.13 m and it is provided with equipment that allows the temperature and humidity control.  The Counterfog system consists in a nozzle which creates a cleaning fog. This fog can be of just water or contain a neutralizing compound. For these experiments, only fogs made of water were used. The droplets size of the fog can be changed depending on the water and air pressures that can be adjusted as will.  6  friendly system that does not produce any type of residue during its implementation. This supposes its possibility of application in all type of situations and places including those with presence of civil population, since its application is innocuous for the human being to base its operation in the use of both water and air.  This method develops a novel form for the decontamination of suspended airborne particles of diesel, since the current methods are very scarce and do not allow their implementation in large buildings or with the presence of civil population. Also, the water deposited on the floor was collected, in Figure 4 is shown how the solid particles present in the air are deposited on the floor of the camera as a result of the fog generated. The dark grey color of the residues allows us to say that these particles are form from hydrocarbon residues resulting from the combustion of diesel introduced in the room by a diesel four-stroke engine prior to the test. It is observed how the deposited solid particles tend to accumulate in certain regions of the surface and how the dimensions of the deposited residues are up to 40 cm allowing to assume the successful working of the Counterfog system for this kind of situations.    Figure 2. Residues deposited on the floor of the camera after test.  Figure 3 shows some examples in detail of some residues, taken in secondary electron detector (SED), in different magnification from the top to the bottom allowing a complete particle analysis. Figure 3a, c and e show the shape and topography of some particles, that reveals the agglomeration or clusters of more than 100 μm formed by smaller particles. Figure 3b, d and f, taken in backscattered electrons detector (BSE), allows to see that the composition of these particles is really uniform.  7                                                         (a)                                                                                            (b)                                                          (c)                                                                                           (d)                                                                                                            (e)                                                                                            (f)                                                    Figure 3. Examples of residue deposited on the floor of the test room after Counterfog system implementation.                                                               (a)(c)(e) Taken in secondary electron detector (SED)                                                                                                                      (b)(d)(f) Taken in  backscattered electrons detector (BSE)      8  Table 2 and Figure 4 show an example of the particle composition analyzed by Energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDXS). The semi-quantitative analysis reveals that despite the results are not quantitative, the main elements are carbon and oxygen what corresponds with the expected composition of diesel fuel combustion residue.  Table 2. Example of semi-quantitative analysis in the residue collected Element  Composition Deviation C 67.9% ±6.14% O 20.105% ±1.055% Na 0.565% ±0.125% Mg 0.63% ±0.16% Si 3.945% ±1.275% P 0.68% ±0.25% S 0.34% ±0.13% Cl 0.37% ±0.16% K 0.285% ±0.135% Ca 1.735% ±0.815% Fe 3.445% ±2.035%   Figure 4. Example of semi-quantitative analysis in the residue collected  Nevertheless, the presence of a significant quantity of silicon what was not expected at the beginning of the study drove us to a deeper study by SEM of the particles collected. In figure 5 some examples of these silicon particles are shown. As can be seen, those silicon particles confirmed by EDXS (Table 3 and Figure 6) are embedded in carbon agglomerations. Also, it is observed how the deposited particles are distributed in large agglomerations of more than 200μm. On this occasion, the presence of numerous fibers of great length is observed and they are shown in detail in Figure 5. 9    Table 3. Example of semi-quantitative analysis in a silicon embedded residue collected Element  Composition Deviation Si 31.995% ±4.935% C 18.27% ±4.8% O 36.47% ±4.56% Mg 1.61% ±0.13% Al 1.305% ±0.175% Cl 0.26% ±0.07% K 0.69% ±0.21% Ca 5.07% ±1.63% Fe 0.6% ±0.28% Cu 2.125% ±1.085% Zn 1.61% ±%0.84%   Figure 6. Example of semi-quantitative analysis in a silicon embedded residue collected  These silicon particles could be part of the diesel combustion residues or could be provided by the dust present in the atmosphere.  The study of the composition of the commercial fuels [REF] shows that this silicon is not part of it. Further studies of the atmosphere should be done and they are now in process. In addition, an analysis of the particle size distribution of different samples was carried out as exposed in Figure 7.  An example of a sample analysis can be seen in Figure 7a and Figure 7b where the percentages for each particle size and the cumulative percentages are shown. Figures 7c and 7d and Tables 4 and 5 show the arithmetic means of a significant number of samples analyzed. It can be first seen that all the representative samples analyzed follow the same tendency. It is not a Gaussian curve as expected, but three different maximums can be observed in all the samples analyzed. A big number of 11  Table 4. Mean and deviation of the volume in for the significant samples analyzed                                                                                                                                                  Table 5. Mean and deviation of the volume under for the significant samples analyzed                                                                                                                                                      Size (µm) Volume In % Deviation % Size (µm) Volume In % Deviation % Size (µm) Volume In % Deviation % Size (µm) Volume In % Deviation %0.01 0.00 0.00 0.363 0.05 0.03 13.183 2.81 0.75 478.63 1.18 0.230.01 0.00 0.00 0.417 0.06 0.03 15.136 3.02 0.76 549.541 1.22 0.250.01 0.00 0.00 0.479 0.07 0.03 17.378 3.14 0.76 630.957 1.28 0.210.02 0.00 0.00 0.55 0.08 0.03 19.953 3.17 0.73 724.436 1.31 0.130.02 0.00 0.00 0.631 0.09 0.03 22.909 3.10 0.69 831.764 1.26 0.040.02 0.00 0.00 0.724 0.11 0.03 26.303 2.98 0.64 954.993 1.12 0.020.02 0.00 0.00 0.832 0.13 0.04 30.2 2.82 0.57 1096.478 0.93 0.010.03 0.00 0.00 0.955 0.15 0.05 34.674 2.67 0.50 1258.925 0.70 0.010.03 0.00 0.00 1.096 0.17 0.06 39.811 2.57 0.40 1445.44 0.46 0.010.04 0.00 0.00 1.259 0.21 0.07 45.709 2.53 0.29 1659.587 0.24 0.010.04 0.00 0.00 1.445 0.25 0.09 52.481 2.59 0.12 1905.461 0.05 0.000.05 0.00 0.00 1.66 0.30 0.11 60.256 2.73 0.09 2187.762 0.00 0.000.05 0.00 0.00 1.905 0.35 0.13 69.183 2.93 0.34 2511.886 0.00 0.000.06 0.00 0.00 2.188 0.40 0.15 79.433 3.18 0.63 2884.032 0.00 0.000.07 0.00 0.00 2.512 0.46 0.18 91.201 3.42 0.92 3311.311 0.00 0.000.08 0.00 0.00 2.884 0.52 0.21 104.713 3.61 1.21 3801.894 0.00 0.000.09 0.00 0.00 3.311 0.60 0.24 120.226 3.72 1.44 4365.158 0.00 0.000.105 0.00 0.00 3.802 0.68 0.28 138.038 3.72 1.59 5011.872 0.00 0.000.12 0.00 0.00 4.365 0.79 0.32 158.489 3.58 1.64 5754.399 0.00 0.000.138 0.00 0.00 5.012 0.94 0.37 181.97 3.30 1.57 6606.934 0.00 0.000.158 0.00 0.00 5.754 1.12 0.42 208.93 2.92 1.37 7585.776 0.00 0.000.182 0.00 0.00 6.607 1.34 0.48 239.883 2.46 1.08 8709.636 0.00 0.000.209 0.00 0.00 7.586 1.61 0.54 275.423 2.01 0.73 10000 0.00 0.000.24 0.00 0.00 8.71 1.91 0.61 316.228 1.62 0.390.275 0.00 0.00 10 2.23 0.66 363.078 1.35 0.090.316 0.01 0.01 11.482 2.54 0.71 416.869 1.21 0.12Size (µm) Volume Under % Deviation % Size (µm) Volume Under % Deviation % Size (µm) Volume Under % Deviation % Size (µm) Volume Under % Deviation %0.01 0.00 0.0 0.363 0.06 0.0 13.183 19.95 6.7 478.63 91.44 0.60.011 0.00 0.0 0.417 0.12 0.1 15.136 22.97 7.4 549.541 92.66 0.40.013 0.00 0.0 0.479 0.19 0.1 17.378 26.11 8.2 630.957 93.94 0.10.015 0.00 0.0 0.55 0.27 0.1 19.953 29.27 8.9 724.436 95.25 0.00.017 0.00 0.0 0.631 0.36 0.2 22.909 32.37 9.6 831.764 96.51 0.00.02 0.00 0.0 0.724 0.47 0.2 26.303 35.35 10.2 954.993 97.63 0.00.023 0.00 0.0 0.832 0.60 0.2 30.2 38.17 10.8 1096.478 98.56 0.00.026 0.00 0.0 0.955 0.74 0.3 34.674 40.84 11.3 1258.925 99.26 0.00.03 0.00 0.0 1.096 0.92 0.3 39.811 43.40 11.7 1445.44 99.72 0.00.035 0.00 0.0 1.259 1.12 0.4 45.709 45.94 12.0 1659.587 99.95 0.00.04 0.00 0.0 1.445 1.37 0.5 52.481 48.52 12.1 1905.461 100.01 0.00.046 0.00 0.0 1.66 1.67 0.6 60.256 51.25 12.0 2187.762 100.01 0.00.052 0.00 0.0 1.905 2.01 0.7 69.183 54.18 11.7 2511.886 100.01 0.00.06 0.00 0.0 2.188 2.41 0.9 79.433 57.36 11.1 2884.032 100.01 0.00.069 0.00 0.0 2.512 2.87 1.1 91.201 60.78 10.2 3311.311 100.01 0.00.079 0.00 0.0 2.884 3.39 1.3 104.713 64.39 8.9 3801.894 100.01 0.00.091 0.00 0.0 3.311 3.99 1.5 120.226 68.11 7.5 4365.158 100.01 0.00.105 0.00 0.0 3.802 4.67 1.8 138.038 71.83 5.9 5011.872 100.01 0.00.12 0.00 0.0 4.365 5.46 2.1 158.489 75.40 4.3 5754.399 100.01 0.00.138 0.00 0.0 5.012 6.40 2.5 181.97 78.70 2.7 6606.934 100.01 0.00.158 0.00 0.0 5.754 7.51 2.9 208.93 81.62 1.3 7585.776 100.01 0.00.182 0.00 0.0 6.607 8.86 3.4 239.883 84.08 0.3 8709.636 100.01 0.00.209 0.00 0.0 7.586 10.47 3.9 275.423 86.09 0.5 10000 100.00 0.00.24 0.00 0.0 8.71 12.38 4.5 316.228 87.71 0.90.275 0.00 0.0 10 14.61 5.2 363.078 89.06 1.00.316 0.01 0.0 11.482 17.15 5.9 416.869 90.27 0.812  Conclusions  Acknowledgments    References Allaby M 2003 Fog, Smog and Poisoned rain, Facts on File, Inc. 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Decontamination of Diesel particles from air by using the Counterfog (R) system

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Decontamination of Diesel particles from air by using the Counterfog (R) system

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