TY - JOUR
T1 - Local aerosol composition before and during the transition from coal-fired power to natural gas
AU - Alstadt, Valerie J.
AU - Jansen, Kevin T.
AU - Ott, Emily Jean E.
AU - Altaf, Muhammad Bilal
AU - Freedman, Miriam Arak
N1 - Funding Information:
We are grateful for support from the CAREER program of the National Science Foundation ( CHE-351383 ) and the Pennsylvania State University . We acknowledge the Materials Characterization Lab at Penn State for use of the Philips EM420T TEM and the FEI Tecnai G20 20 XTWIN. We also thank J. Gray of the TEM facility staff, L. Johns of the Chemistry Department for all his assistance with building specifics, and P. Moser of the Office of the Physical Plant for the power plant data and fly ash sample. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory ( ARL ) for the provision of the HYSPLIT transport and dispersion model and READY website ( http://www.ready.noaa.gov ) used in this publication.
Funding Information:
We are grateful for support from the CAREER program of the National Science Foundation (CHE-351383) and the Pennsylvania State University. We acknowledge the Materials Characterization Lab at Penn State for use of the Philips EM420T TEM and the FEI Tecnai G20 20 XTWIN. We also thank J. Gray of the TEM facility staff, L. Johns of the Chemistry Department for all his assistance with building specifics, and P. Moser of the Office of the Physical Plant for the power plant data and fly ash sample. The authors also gratefully acknowledge the NOAA Air Resources Laboratory (ARL) for the provision of the HYSPLIT transport and dispersion model and READY website (http://www.ready.noaa.gov) used in this publication.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2018 Elsevier Ltd
PY - 2018/10
Y1 - 2018/10
N2 - Local aerosol composition impacts human health, as toxicity depends on particle concentration, composition, and size. We have thus studied local aerosol composition in University Park, PA from September–November of 2014 and 2015 to determine the composition and morphology of ambient particles using Transmission Electron Microscopy. In particular, we explored how local aerosol composition is affected as local and regional power plants converted from coal to natural gas consumption. Our results indicate a decline in the fraction of fractal particles (soot and fly ash) from 2014 to 2015 due to the conversion of the local power plants. Since fly ash and soot are often associated with hazardous substances such as heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, decreases in these particle types suggest a trend that could benefit human health at the local level.
AB - Local aerosol composition impacts human health, as toxicity depends on particle concentration, composition, and size. We have thus studied local aerosol composition in University Park, PA from September–November of 2014 and 2015 to determine the composition and morphology of ambient particles using Transmission Electron Microscopy. In particular, we explored how local aerosol composition is affected as local and regional power plants converted from coal to natural gas consumption. Our results indicate a decline in the fraction of fractal particles (soot and fly ash) from 2014 to 2015 due to the conversion of the local power plants. Since fly ash and soot are often associated with hazardous substances such as heavy metals and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, decreases in these particle types suggest a trend that could benefit human health at the local level.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2018.07.013
DO - 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2018.07.013
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85049946673
SN - 1352-2310
VL - 190
SP - 169
EP - 176
JO - Atmospheric Environment
JF - Atmospheric Environment
ER -
