Burtscher, Heinz

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Heinz
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Burtscher, Heinz

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  • Publikation
    Non-volatile particle emissions from aircraft turbine engines at ground-idle induce oxidative stress in bronchial cells
    (Nature, 05.03.2019) Jonsdottir, Hulda R.; Delaval, Mathilde; Leni, Zaira; Keller, Alejandro; Brem, Benjamin T.; Siegerist, Frithjof; Schönenberger, David; Durdina, Lukas; Elser, Miriam; Burtscher, Heinz; Liati, Anthi; Geiser, Marianne [in: Communications Biology]
    Aircraft emissions contribute to local and global air pollution. Health effects of particulate matter (PM) from aircraft engines are largely unknown, since controlled cell exposures at relevant conditions are challenging. We examined the toxicity of non-volatile PM (nvPM) emissions from a CFM56-7B26 turbofan, the world’s most used aircraft turbine using an unprecedented exposure setup. We combined direct turbine-exhaust sampling under realistic engine operating conditions and the Nano-Aerosol Chamber for In vitro Toxicity to deposit particles onto air–liquid-interface cultures of human bronchial epithelial cells (BEAS-2B) at physiological conditions. We evaluated acute cellular responses after 1-h exposures to diluted exhaust from conventional or alternative fuel combustion. We show that single, short-term exposures to nvPM impair bronchial epithelial cells, and PM from conventional fuel at ground-idle conditions is the most hazardous. Electron microscopy of soot reveals varying reactivity matching the observed cellular responses. Stronger responses at lower mass concentrations suggest that additional metrics are necessary to evaluate health risks of this increasingly important emission source.
    01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher Zeitschrift
  • Publikation
    Dual-wavelength light-scattering technique for selective detection of volcanic ash particles in the presence of water droplets
    (Copernicus, 2015) Jurányi, Zsófia; Burtscher, Heinz; Loepfe, Markus; Nenkov, Maxim; Weingartner, Ernest [in: Atmospheric Measurement Techniques]
    A new method is presented in this paper which analyses the scattered light of individual aerosol particles simultaneously at two different wavelengths in order to retrieve information on the particle type. We show that dust-like particles, such as volcanic ash, can be unambiguously discriminated from water droplets on a single-particle level. As a future application of this method, the detection of volcanic ash particles should be possible in a humid atmosphere in the presence of cloud droplets. The characteristic behaviour of pure water's refractive index can be used to separate water droplets and dust-like particles which are commonly found in the micrometre size range in the ambient air. The low real part of the water's refractive index around 2700–2800 nm results in low scattered light intensities compared to e.g. the visible wavelength range, and this feature can be used for the desired particle identification. The two-wavelength measurement set-up was theoretically and experimentally tested and studied. Theoretical calculations were done using Mie theory. Comparing the ratio of the scattered light at the two wavelengths (visible-to-IR (infrared), R value) for water droplets and different dust types (basalt, andesite, African mineral dust, sand, volcanic ash, pumice) showed at least 9-times-higher values (on average 70 times) for water droplets than for the dust types at any diameter within the particle size range of 2–20 μm. The envisaged measurement set-up was built up into a laboratory prototype and was tested with different types of aerosols. We generated aerosols from the following powders, simulating dust-like particles: cement dust, ISO 12103-1 A1 Ultrafine Test Dust and ash from the 2012 eruption of the Etna volcano. Our measurements verified the theoretical considerations; the median experimental R value is 8–21 times higher for water than for the "dust" particles.
    01A - Beitrag in wissenschaftlicher Zeitschrift