Two-stroke scooters are a dominant source of air pollution in many cities

S.M. Platt, I.El. Haddad, S.M. Pieber, R.-J. Huang, A.A. Zardini, M. Clairotte, R. Suarez-Bertoa, P. Barmet, L. Pfaffenberger, R. Wolf, J.G. Slowik, S.J. Fuller, M. Kalberer, R. Chirico, J. Dommen, C. Astorga, R. Zimmermann, N. Marchand, S. Hellebust, B. Temime-Roussel, U. Baltensperger and A.S.H. Prévôt ()
Additional contact information
S.M. Platt: Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institute
I.El. Haddad: Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institute
S.M. Pieber: Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institute
R.-J. Huang: Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institute
A.A. Zardini: European Commission Joint Research Centre, Institute for Energy and Transport
M. Clairotte: European Commission Joint Research Centre, Institute for Energy and Transport
R. Suarez-Bertoa: European Commission Joint Research Centre, Institute for Energy and Transport
P. Barmet: Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institute
L. Pfaffenberger: Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institute
R. Wolf: Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institute
J.G. Slowik: Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institute
S.J. Fuller: Centre for Atmospheric Science, University of Cambridge
M. Kalberer: Centre for Atmospheric Science, University of Cambridge
R. Chirico: Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institute
J. Dommen: Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institute
C. Astorga: European Commission Joint Research Centre, Institute for Energy and Transport
R. Zimmermann: Cooperation Group comprehensive molecular analytics/Joint Mass Spectrometry Centre, Helmholtz Zentrum München
N. Marchand: Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, LCE FRE 3416
S. Hellebust: Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, LCE FRE 3416
B. Temime-Roussel: Aix Marseille Université, CNRS, LCE FRE 3416
U. Baltensperger: Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institute
A.S.H. Prévôt: Laboratory of Atmospheric Chemistry, Paul Scherrer Institute

Nature Communications, 2014, vol. 5, issue 1, 1-7

Abstract: Abstract Fossil fuel-powered vehicles emit significant particulate matter, for example, black carbon and primary organic aerosol, and produce secondary organic aerosol. Here we quantify secondary organic aerosol production from two-stroke scooters. Cars and trucks, particularly diesel vehicles, are thought to be the main vehicular pollution sources. This needs re-thinking, as we show that elevated particulate matter levels can be a consequence of ‘asymmetric pollution’ from two-stroke scooters, vehicles that constitute a small fraction of the fleet, but can dominate urban vehicular pollution through organic aerosol and aromatic emission factors up to thousands of times higher than from other vehicle classes. Further, we demonstrate that oxidation processes producing secondary organic aerosol from vehicle exhaust also form potentially toxic ‘reactive oxygen species’.

Date: 2014
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DOI: 10.1038/ncomms4749

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