Ifsttar PhD subject

French version
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Title : Mercury speciation in vehicular emissions and in transport infrastructure-affected environments

Main host Laboratory - Referent Advisor   -

Director of the main host Laboratory   -

PhD Speciality Géochimie de l'environnement / Chimie analytique

Axis of the performance contract 3 - COP2017 - Planning and protecting regions

Main location Nantes

Doctoral affiliation Université Bretagne Loire

PhD school EGAAL - Ecologie, Géosciences, Agronomie et Alimentation

Planned PhD supervisor FRANCOIS Denis  -  Université Gustave Eiffel  -  AME - EASE

Planned PhD co-supervisor MURESAN PASLARU Bogdan  -  Université Gustave Eiffel  -  AME - EASE

Planned financing Contrat doctoral  - Ifsttar

Abstract

Naturally present in oil products and some natural gases (50 to >10000 times more concentrated than in tap water), mercury (Hg) is emitted chronically from automobile exhausts. The amount of Hg emitted annually in France via the combustion of nearly 50 million m3 of automotive fuel is close to 50 kg (lower limit). In addition, the Hg content of brake pads, while variable, can exceed that of the earth's crust by more than an order of magnitude. By way of comparison, a button cell (containing ~0.1 g Hg) contaminates 400 L of water or 1 m3 of soil for close to 50 years.

The composition and toxicity of Hg emissions remain largely uncertain despite the environmental and health challenges. Almost nothing is known about Hg emission dynamics as a function of engine parameters and its transformations in the receiving environment. However, it is known that some mercurial compounds (alkylated forms) are able to concentrate strongly in organisms and accumulate along food webs up to more than 10,000,000 times. As a result, low but chronic exposure leads to extreme, even dangerous levels for living organisms. This aspect has led the US Environmental Agency (US-EPA) to classify Hg as a priority pollutant. Its negative effects on the environment are also recognized by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Health Organization (WHO). In France, the evaluation of Hg sources, its speciation in emissions and fallout, its interactions with the rest of the pollutants, among which (nano)particles, are regularly at the heart of the PRIMEQUAL and CORTEA research proposal of the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME).

In this context, and due to the lack of data, the thesis project is organized around 3 objectives:
i) characterize the speciation of Hg in automotive emissions,
ii). assess the emission dynamics as a function of the vehicle's engine parameters,
iii) analyse the impregnation of different types of ecosystems adjoining roads.

To achieve these objectives, the Environment, Planning, Safety and Eco-design Laboratory (EASE) has developed and adapted several investigation tools. In 2014, it acquired a mobile analyzer to monitor Hg in the atmosphere or in emissions in real time and on the ultra-trace scale. It is equipped with instrumented vehicles, which opens the door to a quantitatively realistic monitoring of emissions. In addition, this thesis project brings together Ifsttar EASE and Water and Environment (LEE) laboratories. The LEE contributed to the financing of the Hg analyser and then initiated the development of techniques for investigating organo-mercurielle forms in various solid, liquid and gaseous matrices. In this way, it gives the thesis project: 1) the analytical power necessary to determine the environmental dynamics of these chemical forms, which are still rarely studied, and 2) knowledge of relevant sites in terms of assessing ecosystem contamination. This thesis project concerns urban and interurban environments. Its ultimate purpose is to understand, as broadly as possible, the processes that control emissions and the future of this global pollutant whose effects are felt at the local level.

The target doctoral school is "Ecology, Geosciences, Food Agronomy" (EGAAL) of the University of Bretagne Loire.

References
OMS (2013). Mercury and health. Fact sheet N°361. Texte disponible à l’adresse : http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs361/en/ (octobre 2014).
PNUE (2013). Minamata convention on mercury. 62 pp. Texte et annexes disponibles à l’adresse : www.mercuryconvention.org (octobre 2014).
US-EPA (2013). Toxic and Priority Pollutants. List of 126 priority pollutants. Appendix A to 40 CFR Part 423. Liste disponible à l’adresse : http://water.epa.gov/scitech/methods/cwa/pollutants.cfm (octobre 2014).

Keywords : Automotive emissions, mercurial compounds, engine parameters, roadside ecosystems

Main host Laboratory - Referent Advisor	-
Director of the main host Laboratory	-
PhD Speciality	Géochimie de l'environnement / Chimie analytique
Axis of the performance contract	3 - COP2017 - Planning and protecting regions
Main location	Nantes
Doctoral affiliation	Université Bretagne Loire
PhD school	EGAAL - Ecologie, Géosciences, Agronomie et Alimentation
Planned PhD supervisor	FRANCOIS Denis - Université Gustave Eiffel - AME - EASE
Planned PhD co-supervisor	MURESAN PASLARU Bogdan - Université Gustave Eiffel - AME - EASE
Planned financing	Contrat doctoral - Ifsttar
Abstract Naturally present in oil products and some natural gases (50 to >10000 times more concentrated than in tap water), mercury (Hg) is emitted chronically from automobile exhausts. The amount of Hg emitted annually in France via the combustion of nearly 50 million m3 of automotive fuel is close to 50 kg (lower limit). In addition, the Hg content of brake pads, while variable, can exceed that of the earth's crust by more than an order of magnitude. By way of comparison, a button cell (containing ~0.1 g Hg) contaminates 400 L of water or 1 m3 of soil for close to 50 years. The composition and toxicity of Hg emissions remain largely uncertain despite the environmental and health challenges. Almost nothing is known about Hg emission dynamics as a function of engine parameters and its transformations in the receiving environment. However, it is known that some mercurial compounds (alkylated forms) are able to concentrate strongly in organisms and accumulate along food webs up to more than 10,000,000 times. As a result, low but chronic exposure leads to extreme, even dangerous levels for living organisms. This aspect has led the US Environmental Agency (US-EPA) to classify Hg as a priority pollutant. Its negative effects on the environment are also recognized by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Health Organization (WHO). In France, the evaluation of Hg sources, its speciation in emissions and fallout, its interactions with the rest of the pollutants, among which (nano)particles, are regularly at the heart of the PRIMEQUAL and CORTEA research proposal of the French Environment and Energy Management Agency (ADEME). In this context, and due to the lack of data, the thesis project is organized around 3 objectives: i) characterize the speciation of Hg in automotive emissions, ii). assess the emission dynamics as a function of the vehicle's engine parameters, iii) analyse the impregnation of different types of ecosystems adjoining roads. To achieve these objectives, the Environment, Planning, Safety and Eco-design Laboratory (EASE) has developed and adapted several investigation tools. In 2014, it acquired a mobile analyzer to monitor Hg in the atmosphere or in emissions in real time and on the ultra-trace scale. It is equipped with instrumented vehicles, which opens the door to a quantitatively realistic monitoring of emissions. In addition, this thesis project brings together Ifsttar EASE and Water and Environment (LEE) laboratories. The LEE contributed to the financing of the Hg analyser and then initiated the development of techniques for investigating organo-mercurielle forms in various solid, liquid and gaseous matrices. In this way, it gives the thesis project: 1) the analytical power necessary to determine the environmental dynamics of these chemical forms, which are still rarely studied, and 2) knowledge of relevant sites in terms of assessing ecosystem contamination. This thesis project concerns urban and interurban environments. Its ultimate purpose is to understand, as broadly as possible, the processes that control emissions and the future of this global pollutant whose effects are felt at the local level. The target doctoral school is "Ecology, Geosciences, Food Agronomy" (EGAAL) of the University of Bretagne Loire. References OMS (2013). Mercury and health. Fact sheet N°361. Texte disponible à l’adresse : http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs361/en/ (octobre 2014). PNUE (2013). Minamata convention on mercury. 62 pp. Texte et annexes disponibles à l’adresse : www.mercuryconvention.org (octobre 2014). US-EPA (2013). Toxic and Priority Pollutants. List of 126 priority pollutants. Appendix A to 40 CFR Part 423. Liste disponible à l’adresse : http://water.epa.gov/scitech/methods/cwa/pollutants.cfm (octobre 2014).
Keywords :	Automotive emissions, mercurial compounds, engine parameters, roadside ecosystems

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