Investigation of harbor craft activities for emission inventory calculation

ABSTRACT

Total emissions from all sources need to be accurately quantified in an emission inventory in order for a basin to develop their air pollution management plan. The best approach is to measure both the real-world emissions and activity for a source; however, often only emissions are measured and activity is estimated from historical factors. This report focuses on harbor craft and presents data showing that using measured emissions and historical factors for activity will lead to inaccurate emission contributions. In this research, real-world activity data were collected from the engine control module (ECM) and from a surrogate method that relied on exhaust temperature. Measured real-world activity values from 10 harbor craft were compared with historical values found in the certification cycle. The vessels included four tugboats, three pilot boats, two police boats, and one supply vessel. The results showed the activity values used in the certification cycle did not reflect the real-world activity of the 10 harbor craft vessels. On average, real-world NOx emissions were only 46% of the NO_x emissions estimated by ISO 8178-E3 weighting factor. In contrast, inclusion of significantly lower load factors leads to 31% higher in-use NO_x emission factors on average. CARB/EPA load factor ranges from 0.45 to 0.51 while in-use load factor ranged from 0.14 to 0.44. From this finding, researchers are cautioned about accepting the activity values in a certification test cycle, like ISO 8178 E3, and instead should measure real world activity data. This change would improve the accuracy of the emission contribution from harbor craft to the local inventory.

Implications: Real-world measurements of activity and emissions are the best way to get an accurate emission contribution to emission inventory. This paper reports on the differences between the use of the traditional certification cycle and real-world activity of harbor craft. Engine control module (ECM) and exhaust temperature data from 10 harbor crafts with different types of operation were used to compare real-world activity data to certification cycle.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Supplementary material

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Additional information

Notes on contributors

Chas Frederickson

Chas Frederickson is a graduate at the University of California Riverside.

J. Wayne Miller

J. Wayne Miller is an adjunct professor at the Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, and associate director at CE-CERT at the University of California Riverside.

Heejung Jung

Heejung Jung is a professor at the University of California Riverside.