• Study Will Measure Levels of Nanoparticles in the Region

Developing an affordable, maintenance-free device for refueling natural-gas-powered vehicles at home is the goal of a project backed today by the South Coast Air Quality Management District Governing Board. By making it easy to refuel, the project is aimed at making it easier for motorists to purchase and drive natural gas vehicles, which are among the lowest-polluting cars on the road.

Natural gas vehicles can play a significant role in cleaning up the Southland’s air pollution. They are making major inroads in corporate and government automotive fleet markets and environmental and energy agencies believe that a convenient home-fueling device could help natural gas vehicles become popular with individual drivers.

SCAQMD has joined with the U.S. Department of Energy, California Air Resources Board, and Technology Partners of Canada in funding Fuelmaker Corp. to carry out the project. In the first phase, which will cost $1.225 million, Fuelmaker will develop a prototype home fueling device within 18 months. In the second 18-month phase, the unit will be field tested and upgraded in preparation for commercialization.

To help finance the first phase, SCAQMD is providing $500,000, DOE $100,000, ARB $250,000, and Technology Partners Canada $375,000.

Key goals for the device are to:

• Provide home-based fueling, either inside or outside, using domestic natural gas and 110-volt power;
• Keep the cost to around $1,000 and assure that it is maintenance-free;
• Fuel vehicles overnight; and
• Reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

SCAQMD is funding a special study of particulate pollution in the region to measure levels of nanoparticles, which largely consist of nitrate. ARB’s ongoing Children’s Health Study has implicated these and other ultrafine particles in retarding lung function growth in children who grow up in the Southland.

In the special study, researchers from the University of Southern California will rotate three new devices, known as Scanning Mobility Particle Sizers, to the sites of the Children’s Health Study over thee years. The sizers will provide data on: the sizes and concentrations of particles in the air; how particle levels change through the course of the day; comparisons of particle levels between weekdays and weekends; and correlations between levels of particles and other pollutants, such as elemental carbon, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides.

USC researchers will collect data with the sizers in Upland, Mira Loma, Lake Elsinore, Riverside, the university campus near downtown Los Angeles, Azusa, Glendora, and Long Beach.

AQMD is providing $120,000 toward the project with revenue from a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency grant. ARB is providing an additional $74,679 to fund the remaining cost of the $194,679 project.

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AQMD Home Page
This page updated: February 27, 2004
URL: http://www.aqmd.gov/news1/Governing_Board/Bs8_17_01.htm