Real-world emission characteristics of VOCs from typical cargo ships and their potential contributions to secondary organic aerosol and O₃ under low-sulfur fuel policies

Mandatory use of low-sulfur fuel according to the global sulfur limit regulation has reduced the emissions of SO₂ and particulate matter (PM) significantly on ships, and it also leads to a very large uncertainty in volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions. Therefore, an on-board test of VOCs from nine typical cargo ships with low-sulfur fuels in China was carried out in this study. Results showed that the emission factor of VOCs (EFVOCs) varied largely from 0.09 to 3.01 gkg^-1 of fuel, with domestic coastal cargo ships (CCSs) having the highest level, followed by inland cargo ships (ICSs) and ocean-going vessels (OGVs). The switch of fuels from heavy fuel oil (HFO) to diesel increased EFVOCs by 48 % on average, which enhanced both O₃ and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation potential, especially for OGVs. Besides, the use of low-sulfur fuels for OGVs also led to a significant increase in naphthalene emission. These indicated that the implementation of a global ultra-low-sulfur oil policy in the near future needs to be optimized. Moreover, aromatics were the most important common contributors to O₃ and SOA in ship exhausts, which need to be controlled as a matter of priority. It was also found that the benzene, toluene, and ethylbenzene ratio of 0.5:0.3:0.2 on average could be considered a diagnostic characteristic to distinguish ship emissions from other emission sources.