Hidden Pollutant In Diesel?

The increase of diesel cars has a large impact on air quality in cities like London, says study.

16:29 28 September 2015

The atmospheric levels of a little known by-product from diesel engines are up to 70 times higher than expected. According to researchers, long-chain hydrocarbons are significantly under-reported in car manufacturers’ data.

 

Lead author Dr Jacqueline Hamilton, said: "It's definitely been hidden until now,"

 

"What we found is that there's actually a lot of this unburned material from diesel that we haven't seen before."

 

"That might be having a bigger impact on ozone and particle formation than petrol cars are, and historically no one has looked at these emissions at all."

 

Meanwhile, the authors agree that these hydrocarbons have a direct effect on health.

 

"I think it is having a large impact on air quality in our cities, the number of deaths associated with particle pollution are much higher than those from nitrogen dioxide, this is a route to increase particle pollution so it could have a major impact on human health."

 

Meanwhile, Prof Paul Monks, from the University of Leicester, who is also the chair of the UK government's air quality expert group, praised the study. "It is science that has come up with this discovery, but it definitely has public policy implications," 

 

"It raises yet another question about diesel vehicles. They are implicated heavily in NO2, they are implicated in toxic particulate matter, and this points to another deleterious environmental impact from diesels."