Periodic Reporting for period 2 - RAPTOR (Research of Aviation PM Technologies, mOdelling and Regulation)
Reporting period: 2020-11-01 to 2022-04-30
RAPTOR has brought together a consortium of interdisciplinary experts in the fields of measurement, modelling and health to provide a synergy of the current and future impacts of aircraft nvPM and to provide robust support to key stakeholders going beyond the current CAEP cycle. An overview of the perceived needs and roadmap (aligned with other EC regulations and guidelines) for action on aircraft engine PM regulation, measurement, modelling and future technology adoption. To provide a framework to assist EASA and the EU commission in future regulation, policy and guidelines.
RAPTOR contributes to the following areas related to aviation PM emissions: measurement uncertainties and regulation at engine exit plane (WP4); modelling transport, dispersion and transformation of engine emissions (WP5); and health impacts (WP6). WP3 aims to coordinate, communicate and provide a regulatory overview of these technical work packages.
The project expected outcome is:
Aim 1: Synergize current aircraft engine PM understanding and produce a roadmap for future advancements:
• Establish a coherent overview of the current state-of-the-art regarding measurement, modelling and health impacts of aircraft engine PM. Identified uncertainties, gaps and interdependencies with a roadmap (aligned with other EC regulations and guidelines).
Aim 2: Quantification and reduction of uncertainty in CAEP/11 nvPM emission standard:
• Use historic and combustor rig testing data to support improvement of current CAEP/11 standards, assessing potential correction methodologies towards accurate prediction of aircraft engine exit nvPM and subsequent airport LAQ modelling for consideration during CAEP/12 and beyond.
Aim 3: Improved understanding of the health impacts of aircraft engine nvPM:
• Determine a more nuanced understanding of the potential impact of ultrafine PM emitted from aircraft engines on health outcomes and provide contextual evidence and advice to the regulatory community in developing future EC guidance and standards.
Main gateway for accessing information and data associated with the RAPTOR program is the project website and ZENODO folders.
WP4, PM measurement was undertaken with three principal aims: understand uncertainty in current CAEP10/11 nvPM regulatory practices (D4.1); investigate the requirement of potential corrections to be considered towards reduced uncertainty during CAEP/12 (D4.2); Assess likely benefits future technologies and further regulation will offer in terms of reducing the impact of nvPM beyond CAEP/12. Limited appraisal of existing data from currently unregulated engines has been undertaken by ZHAW with this data being combined into the dataset. Aero-engine relevant RQL (rich-burn Quick-quench Lean-burn) combustor rig testing was performed at Cardiff University’s Gas Turbine Research Centre (GTRC) in December 2020 / February 2021 (M4.1 RQL Combustor Rig Test 1) and December 2021 (M4.3 RQL Combustor Rig Test 2).
Under WP5, A literature survey has been undertaken regarding emissions and modelling of PM at the various scales (airport scale, national scale, continental scale and global scale) to identify the current state of knowledge as well as the gaps that still exist.
Under WP6; Working towards a turbine emission database, first, a literature survey on physicochemical characterization was conducted. A comprehensive search string was applied in Scopus and a library containing approximately 100 research papers was compiled and a literature database was created, which gives an overview on the sampling details such as engine type, used fuel, power settings and types of physicochemical analysis. From this library, 27 research papers contained extensive data on chemical analysis of turbine emissions, and these papers were subsequently examined for input for the turbine emissions database. It is important to note that only a select number of research papers were suitable for input, as only a select number of research papers contained numerical data.
The second test campaign, performed after a 12-month period permitted an assessment of system drift across the CAEP/11 specified calibration schedule.
RAPTOR partners have submitted information papers to both ICAO and SAE. To date 3 information papers and presentations have been made to regulatory stakeholders.
The emission database allowed for comparing e.g. different fuel types for the same engine. Each tab shows information about: fuel type, engine power settings, PM/compounds analysed, concomitant emission indices and the corresponding references. A new emission database available on turbine engine emissions can be utilized in emission modelling and assessment of health effects. This emission database, along with (the limited) published toxicity data on turbine engine emissions, could allow for an assessment of critical factors that affect the hazard of the emission mixture.
RAPTOR has established links with several other European projects including AVIATOR , TUBE and FACTS and reached out to work alongside the US funded ASCENT programme.