Scientists at the University of Miami have developed a method by which urban clouds can be tracked in the atmosphere thanks to a unique isotopic signature found in vehicle emissions
Scientists at the University of Miami have developed a method by which urban clouds can be tracked in the atmosphere thanks to a unique isotopic signature found in vehicle emissions.
Researchers from the Department of Marine and Atmospheric Chemistry at the University of Miami discovered that the ethanol mixture used as a fuel in vehicles does not burn completely, and that the ethanol vapors emitted from the exhaust pipes of vehicles have a higher ratio of the isotopes 13C to 12C compared to natural emissions originating from plants. In other words, the corn and sugarcane plants used to make biofuels create a unique chemical signature related to how these plants use their nutrients.
The team of researchers suggests that the unique chemical signature of ethanol could be used in sampling flights aimed at locating and tracking clouds as they leave urban areas. The findings of the new study were published in the scientific journal Environmental Science & Technology.
The researchers collected and analyzed air samples from two areas in Miami and found that 75% of the ethanol found in Miami's urban air came from synthetic biofuels, while most of the ethanol from an area of a park near Miami came from plants, although a small amount of pollution from the city originating from nearby roads also reached the park.
Air samples from these two different areas, a city and a park, underwent a precise scientific process in which the components within were separated using gas chromatography, and then burned completely separately. The resulting carbon dioxide was tested in the next step using a mass spectrometer, and thus the relative abundance of each of the two different carbon isotopes could be measured.
"According to global emissions estimates, plants emit three times more ethanol than human sources," said the lead researcher. "However, if the amount of ethanol used in our fuel continues to increase, emissions from vehicles will eventually exceed the amount of natural emissions.
This finding is especially critical in urban areas since most of the ethanol in the atmosphere turns into another active substance, acetaldehyde, which is considered toxic to human health."
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One response
Fuel is fuel even in the plural, there is no bias to the plural such as bread and the like
There is no bread or weapons or vehicles, so there is no fuel either.