Real-world emission characteristics of an ocean-going vessel through long sailing measurement

To quantify the emission characteristics of large ocean-going ships, onboard measurements were carried out for a large ocean-going vessel using portable emission measurement system (PEMS). The emission factors (EFs) of conventional pollutants and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) were greatly influenced by real-world operating conditions and engine loads. The sulfur dioxide (SO₂) and particulate matter (PM) emissions were mainly influenced by fuel type. The particle size distribution basically showed a single peak pattern, with nucleation mode particles as the main particles and the peak particle sizes ranging between 30 nm and 50 nm. The EFs for particle number (PN) ranged from 2.82 × 10¹⁶ to 4.49 × 10¹⁶ #/kwh. Carbonaceous components accounted for approximately 31.8% to 41.6% of the PM. SO₄^2-, NH₄⁺, Ca²⁺, Na⁺, and NO₃^- were dominant in water-soluble ions, while V and Ni were high-concentration metal elements, with the ratio of V: Ni ranging from 0.17 to 0.33. Increase in driving speed can lead to the increase in VOCs emissions. Our study presented a comprehensive test method with PEMS, which provides a reference for acquiring future real-world EFs. However, only one representative ship in China using a specific fuel was selected for the test, so it is important to characterize a broader range of ships and fuels.