Portable Emission Measurement System for Emissions of Passenger Rail Locomotives

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to demonstrate a method for measuring passenger railroad locomotive emissions with the use of a portable emission measurement system (PEMS) based on rail yard load tests of three locomotives, including one GP40 and two F59PHIs. These locomotives have mechanically governed diesel prime mover engines (PMEs) with an approximately 3,000-hp output. Each locomotive has a head end power (HEP) engine that produces approximately 600 hp for generating electricity used in the passenger cars. The engine measurements were based on ultralow sulfur diesel fuel. Each engine was instrumented to measure manifold absolute pressure, engine revolutions per minute, intake air temperature, and exhaust concentrations of selected gases and particles. These data were used to quantify exhaust and fuel flow. The exhaust concentrations of nitric oxide, carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide, hydrocarbons, and particulate matter were measured. The PMEs are operated at each of many throttle notch settings. For the HEP engines, three electrical loads were applied on the basis of power usage for one, two, and four passenger cars, respectively. More than 97% of the raw data survived a multistep quality assurance process. The data obtained from the PEMS for the main engines were found to be comparable on a fuel basis to data reported by others, particularly for oxides of nitrogen and CO. The key results from this work are the establishment of a simplified methodology for future tests and the development of baseline data.