AEM-Investigation of Diesel Engine Exhaust Particles

It is well known that Diesel engine exhaust emissions have the potential to cause a range of health problems. Diesel engine exhaust emissions (commonly known as 'diesel fumes') are a mixture of gases, vapours, liquid aerosols and substances made up of particles. They contain the products of combustion including carbon (soot), nitrogen, water, carbon monoxide, aldehydes, nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Most of the contaminants are adsorbed onto the soot. In order to control the emissions it is necessary to study the main combustion products which are the nanometer sized soot particles. Here TEM plays a pivotal role for the characterization of the solid combustion products, i.e. the soot particles.