Emission properties affecting contrail formation
Lead Research Organisation:
Imperial College London
Department Name: Civil & Environmental Engineering
Abstract
Contrail cirrus is a major contributor to the non-CO2 climate impact of aviation. The formation of these ice clouds depends critically on the physicochemical properties of the engine emissions. The emission particles exhibit physical and chemical properties that depend on the fuel composition, engine conditions and the environmental conditions in which they are generated. Understanding how soot and volatile particulate matter (vPM) affect ice activation is essential for developing effective mitigation strategies.
Objectives:
- To experimentally determine how particle composition, size, and morphology influence ice nucleation and contrail formation.
- To provide empirical data to constrain and improve contrail parameterisations in climate models.
- To evaluate the sensitivity of contrail coverage and associated climate forcing to updated microphysical inputs in existing models.
An important ongoing component of the PhD will be the comprehensive characterisation of emission aerosols. Laboratory-generated soot will be produced using a burner, with combustion conditions varied to simulate a range of engine emission scenarios. Both online and offline techniques will be employed to characterise the resulting particles. This will include measurements of particle size distributions using a Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS), morphological analysis of both aggregate and primary particle structure via Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), and elemental composition determined through Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX).
These surrogate emissions will be evaluated against emissions from a small jet engine under both conventional aviation fuel (Jet-A1) and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
The Ice nucleation behaviour of both sources will be characterised using the Portable Ice Nucleation Experiment (PINE) chamber under contrail-relevant temperature and relative humidity conditions.
These data will support the development of improved contrail prediction schemes by directly informing model parameterisations and refining estimates of contrail coverage and radiative forcing.
Objectives:
- To experimentally determine how particle composition, size, and morphology influence ice nucleation and contrail formation.
- To provide empirical data to constrain and improve contrail parameterisations in climate models.
- To evaluate the sensitivity of contrail coverage and associated climate forcing to updated microphysical inputs in existing models.
An important ongoing component of the PhD will be the comprehensive characterisation of emission aerosols. Laboratory-generated soot will be produced using a burner, with combustion conditions varied to simulate a range of engine emission scenarios. Both online and offline techniques will be employed to characterise the resulting particles. This will include measurements of particle size distributions using a Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS), morphological analysis of both aggregate and primary particle structure via Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), and elemental composition determined through Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDX).
These surrogate emissions will be evaluated against emissions from a small jet engine under both conventional aviation fuel (Jet-A1) and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
The Ice nucleation behaviour of both sources will be characterised using the Portable Ice Nucleation Experiment (PINE) chamber under contrail-relevant temperature and relative humidity conditions.
These data will support the development of improved contrail prediction schemes by directly informing model parameterisations and refining estimates of contrail coverage and radiative forcing.
Organisations
People |
ORCID iD |
| Emily Winter (Student) |
Studentship Projects
| Project Reference | Relationship | Related To | Start | End | Student Name |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| EP/S023593/1 | 31/03/2019 | 29/09/2027 | |||
| 2879650 | Studentship | EP/S023593/1 | 30/09/2023 | 29/09/2027 | Emily Winter |