Laser induced fluorescence instrument for the detection of trace levels of atmospheric sulfur dioxide (SO2)

用于检测大气中痕量二氧化硫（SO2）的激光诱导荧光仪

• 批准号: NE/T008555/1
• 负责人: Peter Edwards
• 金额: $ 16.42万
• 依托单位: University of York
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2019 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=NE%2FT008555%2F1
• 关键词: Laser; induced; fluorescence; instrument; detection

In response to environmental challenges such as acid rain and air pollution, UK emissions of sulfur dioxide (SO2) have been reduced by over 90% since the 1970s. This trend has been replicated across much of the developed world, where SO2 concentrations are now well below the levels where they pose a direct health risk, and this is celebrated as an environmental success story. Background SO2 concentrations (rural, oceanic, etc.) are now below the detection limit of current commercial instrumentation, meaning the UK can no longer accurately quantify ambient SO2 concentrations or evaluate emissions inventories. However, even at low background levels, SO2 continues plays a major role in the formation of particulate matter (PM), which poses a significant public health risk in the UK and globally. The development of solutions further reduce PM is hindered by the current lack of sensitive SO2 measurements, as this undermines our ability to accurately represent key sulfur chemistry in models used to inform policy on air pollution and climate.This capital investment will provide the UK atmospheric science community with a new, state-of-the-art instrument for the detection of SO2. Sensitive measurements for SO2 have been feasible over the last decade via chemical ionisation mass spectrometry (CIMS), but this is an impractical method that is rarely used due to its high cost and bulky, complicated operation. Recently a more simple optical method that takes advantage of telecommunications industry laser technology has been developed. In addition to being more sensitive than CIMS, it is less expensive to build and maintain, uses robust technology with high longevity, is easier to operate, and is more portable. This compact instrument was developed by project partners at the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) in the USA, who have successfully demonstrated its performance on both ground and aircraft platforms, where it has proved to be robust, reliable and extremely sensitive. As this instrument is not commercially available, this investment will provide funding for the necessary components and for technical training with the developers at NOAA in order to transfer this exciting new technology to the UK. The new capability will be demonstrated alongside existing SO2 instruments at the Plymouth Marine Laboratories Penlee Point observatory as part of the NERC funded ACRUISE project. The focus of ACRUISE is to investigate the impact on regional air quality of global legislation to reduce shipping fuel sulfur content that comes into force in early 2020. As shipping is a major source of SO2 emissions, particularly in coastal regions, this change in legislation is expected to have a significant effect on global SO2 and associated PM concentrations. This projected reduction in emissions means SO2 levels in coastal areas will likely drop even further below the detection limits of currently available instruments, and so this investment will make a time-critical contribution to UK atmospheric science within the first few months of operation. The instrument will then contribute to two other existing projects in 2020 - 2021, addressing important uncertainties in our understanding of both UK air pollution and the climate impacts of Arctic PM. In both these studies, the new instrument will provide vital information that would not be available otherwise, contributing directly to UK and global environmental policy development. In addition to the above studies, this instrument will be made available to the UK atmospheric science research community and also form the basis of future science proposals. In particular it will enable a targeted study to address the large uncertainties in sulfur's role in controlling particulate air pollution in the UK, and thus help the UK find effective solutions to achieve its ambitions for PM reduction set out in the 2019 Clean Air Strategy.

为了应对酸雨和空气污染等环境挑战，自20世纪70年代以来，英国的二氧化硫（SO2）排放量减少了90%以上。这一趋势已在大部分发达国家得到复制，这些国家的SO2浓度目前远低于构成直接健康风险的水平，这被誉为环境成功故事。背景SO2浓度（农村、海洋等）现在低于当前商业仪器的检测极限，这意味着英国不再能够准确地量化环境SO2浓度或评估排放清单。然而，即使在低背景水平下，二氧化硫仍然在颗粒物（PM）的形成中发挥着重要作用，这对英国和全球构成了重大的公共健康风险。由于目前缺乏灵敏的二氧化硫测量方法，进一步降低PM的解决方案的开发受到阻碍，因为这削弱了我们在用于为空气污染和气候政策提供信息的模型中准确表示关键硫化学的能力。这项资本投资将为英国大气科学界提供一种新的，最先进的二氧化硫检测仪器。在过去的十年中，通过化学电离质谱法（CIMS）对SO2进行灵敏的测量是可行的，但这是一种不切实际的方法，由于其成本高，体积大，操作复杂，很少使用。最近，一种利用电信工业激光技术的更简单的光学方法已经开发出来。除了比CIMS更敏感之外，它的建造和维护成本更低，使用寿命长的强大技术，更容易操作，并且更便携。这款紧凑型仪器由美国国家海洋大气管理局（NOAA）的项目合作伙伴开发，他们已经成功地在地面和飞机平台上展示了其性能，并证明了其强大，可靠和极其灵敏。由于这一仪器尚未投入商业使用，这项投资将为必要的组件和NOAA开发人员的技术培训提供资金，以便将这一令人兴奋的新技术转让给英国。作为NERC资助的ACRUISE项目的一部分，新功能将与普利茅斯海洋实验室Penlee Point天文台现有的SO2仪器一起进行演示。ACRUISE的重点是调查全球立法对区域空气质量的影响，以减少2020年初生效的航运燃料硫含量。由于航运是SO2排放的主要来源，特别是在沿海地区，预计立法的这一变化将对全球SO2和相关PM浓度产生重大影响。这一预计的排放量减少意味着沿海地区的二氧化硫水平可能会进一步下降到现有仪器的检测极限以下，因此这项投资将在运行的头几个月内为英国大气科学做出时间关键的贡献。该仪器将在2020 - 2021年为其他两个现有项目做出贡献，解决我们对英国空气污染和北极PM气候影响的理解中的重要不确定性。在这两项研究中，新工具将提供否则无法获得的重要信息，直接有助于英国和全球环境政策的制定。除了上述研究外，该仪器还将提供给联合王国大气科学研究界，并构成未来科学提案的基础。特别是，它将使一项有针对性的研究能够解决硫在控制英国颗粒物空气污染方面的巨大不确定性，从而帮助英国找到有效的解决方案，以实现2019年清洁空气战略中规定的减少颗粒物的目标。