Mobile Source Pollution Characterization & Reduction
Mobile Source Pollution Characterization & Reduction
Our research addresses urban and regional air pollution by analyzing exhaust emissions from diverse mobile sources, including diesel engines, vehicles, heavy-duty construction equipment, and ships.
We investigate traditional pollutants, volatile organic compounds (VOCs), and POPs, and evaluate advanced aftertreatment technologies. Our lab has achieved up to 99.9% removal for certain pollutants, with results published in peer-reviewed SCI journals, demonstrating the effectiveness of our innovative catalyst and filter systems.
These findings guide cleaner transportation strategies, optimize engine and aftertreatment performance, and support policies to reduce harmful emissions across all mobile sources.
doi.org/10.1016/j.apr.2023.10194
doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2025.126460
doi.org/10.1016/j.apr.2026.102971
Our research addresses air pollution, waste management, and environmental contamination by investigating emissions, pollutant behavior, and control strategies across mobile sources, industrial systems, atmospheric environments, and emerging materials. We evaluate emissions from diesel engines and alternative fuel systems, showing that waste cooking oil-based biodiesel blends significantly reduce toxic pollutants, with emissions decreasing up to B60 (e.g., PAHs ~88%, PCBs ~64%), while higher blends increase emissions due to fuel viscosity effects, identifying B60 as the optimal condition for minimizing toxic emissions (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0045653519314742). We further characterize emissions of PCDD/Fs, PCBs, PBDD/Fs, and PBDEs from off-road diesel engines, demonstrating reductions of up to ~89% in POP toxicity with biodiesel use (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0304389417304661). In advanced aftertreatment systems, we show that Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) can unintentionally increase PCDD/Fs (78.4%), PCBs (201%), and form PBDD/Fs, highlighting potential trade-offs in emission control technologies (https://link.springer.com/article/10.4209/aaqr.2017.04.0129). Our work on diesel–gas co-fuels reveals that while soot emissions decrease, ultrafine nanoparticle emissions increase significantly (29–390%), with current regulations potentially underestimating particle numbers below 23 nm (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0048969722005514). We also investigate waste-to-energy and municipal solid waste incinerators, identifying start-up phases (250–450 °C) as critical emission periods for brominated and chlorinated POPs, and demonstrate that operational strategies such as ash cleaning, residence time reduction, and early injection can achieve emission reductions exceeding 97–98% (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652622007405; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749120361571). In environmental fate studies, we show that microplastics act as long-term reservoirs and transport vectors of POPs in coastal waters, with higher internal concentrations and selective enrichment of highly toxic congeners (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S030438942101623X; https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acs.est.4c10835). Atmospheric studies in Kaohsiung reveal stable ozone levels despite significant reductions in precursors due to nonlinear atmospheric chemistry, while mercury concentrations are higher in industrial areas and influenced by seasonal rainfall scavenging (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749124007504; https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S135223102300496X). At the global scale, we demonstrate long-range transport and ecological redistribution of POPs in Antarctic environments, including limited bioaccumulation of high-molecular-weight PBDEs and redistribution through penguin activity (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0269749116305632). Finally, we develop sustainable recycling strategies using switchable deep eutectic solvents for carbon fiber reinforced polymers, achieving efficient resin decomposition at 180 °C while retaining ~94.5% fiber strength and enabling solvent reuse (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959652622039063). Overall, this body of work provides integrated insights into pollutant formation, transformation, transport, and control, while demonstrating effective strategies for emission reduction, environmental protection, and sustainable material management across multiple environmental systems.
doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.134334
doi.org/10.1016/j.chemosphere.2019.06.233
doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2021.126658
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2016.07.001
doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2020.115469
doi.org/10.1021/acs.est.4c10835
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jhazmat.2017.045
dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2022.153459
doi.org/10.4209/aaqr.2017.04.0129
doi.org/10.1016/j.envpol.2024.124036
doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.131108
doi.org/10.1016/j.atmosenv.2023.120070