Dioxin emission factors for automobiles from tunnel air sampling in Northern Taiwan

This study measured PCDD/F concentrations in tunnel air and vehicle exhaust. The ambient air samples were collected with air samplers (Tisch PS-1) complying with USEPA TO-9A. The results indicate that the tunnel air had a PCDD/F TEQ concentration about two times as high as that of outside air (47.3 and 57.1 fg-I-TEQ/m3 for tunnel air vs. 37.1 fg-I-TEQ/m3 and 23.3 fg-I-TEQ/m3 for outside air, respectively). This provides the direct evidence that PCDD/F compounds are emitted from the combustion processes in gasoline- and diesel-fueled engines. According to the tunnel study, the emission factors ranged from 5.83 to 59.2 pg I-TEQ/km for gasoline vehicles and 23.32 to 236.65 pg I-TEQ/km of diesel vehicles. This indicates that the dioxin emission factor in Taiwan is lower than that measured in USA, Norway and Germany. When the speed of the diesel vehicle was set at 40 km/h, the dioxin concentration emitted from diesel vehicle was 278 pg/m3 (6.27 pg-I-TEQ/m3) from tailpipe testing. However, when the diesel vehicle was idled, the dioxin concentration increased greatly to 4078 pg/m3 (41.9 pg-I-TEQ/m3). From the results of tunnel air sampling, the PCDD/Fs emission from automobiles in Taiwan was estimated as 3.69 g I-TEQ per year.