Potential Impacts on Air Quality of the Use of Ethanol as an Alternative Fuel
9/1/1994
This study consisted of field tests to evaluate the potential air quality impacts of using ethanol-gasoline blends to fuel motor vehicles. Researchers took ambient air measurements at a centrally located site in Albuquerque, New Mexico during the summer of 1993 and the winter of 1994 for comparative analysis. Researchers also measured wind speed, wind direction, ozone, nitric oxide, oxides of nitrogen, carbon monoxide, peroxyacetyl nitrate, aldehydes, organic acids, daytime temperature, and ultraviolet-B radiation by using a wide array of analytical instrumentation. The results of the measurement studies are discussed and analyzed with regard to the potential primary emissions of acetaldehyde from ethanol in the fuel mixture. This report also assesses the potential for using carbon isotopic analysis to determine the relative roles of various sources of hydrocarbons (natural versus anthropogenic) and proposes this method as a means of better estimating the relative impacts of ethanol fuel usage on urban air quality.
Authors: Gaffney, J.S.;Marley, N.A.