Determination of NO_x emission rates of inland ships from onshore measurements

Abstract. Inland ships are an important source of NOx, especially for cities along busy waterways. The amount and effect of such emissions depend on the traffic density and NOx emission rates of individual vessels. Ship emission rates are typically derived using in situ land measurements in relation to NOx emission factors (e.g. the number of pollutants emitted by ships per unit of burnt fuel). In this study, a different approach is taken, and NOx emission rates are obtained (in g s−1). Within the EU LIFE project, CLean INland SHipping (CLINSH), a new approach to calculating the NOx emission rates from data of in situ measurement stations has been developed and is presented in this study. Peaks (i.e. elevated concentrations) of NOx were assigned to the corresponding source ships, using the AIS (automated identification system) signals they transmit. Each ship passage was simulated, using a Gaussian puff model, in order to derive the emission rate of the respective source ship. In total, over 32 900 ship passages have been monitored over the course of 4 years. The emission rates of NOx were investigated with respect to ship speed, ship size, and direction of travel. Comparisons of the onshore-derived emission rates and those on board for selected CLINSH ships show good agreement. The derived emission rates are of a similar magnitude to emission factors from previous studies. Most ships comply with existing limits due to grandfathering. The emission rates (in g s−1) can be directly used to investigate the effect of ship traffic on air quality, as the absolute emitted number of pollutants per unit of time is known. In contrast, for relative emission factors (in g kg−1 fuel), further knowledge about the fuel consumption of the individual ships is needed to calculate the number of pollutants emitted per unit of time.