The first International Seminar on Nano Particles held in Mexico City in 2019 by the CALAC+ Programme and the Government of Mexico City produced an agreement to organise a working party to develop proposals for standards on measuring Nano Particles (NPTI) in internal combustion engines.

In June of this year, the working party’s activities began with the aim of drafting a baseline document to be made available to the countries of the region, for formulating their national standards.

The baseline will develop a proposal for a standard in-plant assessment of the number of particles (NPTI) in internal combustion vehicles. It will address three essential aspects: (i) equipment requirements, (ii) equipment calibration protocols and (iii) maximum permitted limits.

The first activities included an internal webinar with Gerrit Kadijk, representative of TNO (Netherlands), who shared the equivalent European standards and their status.  He highlighted the need for a standard for evaluating particle numbers in:

• Vehicles equipped with particulate filters, as inspection and monitoring systems with optical opacimeters did not have the measurement range for this technology.
• For EURO VI vehicles and those equipped with DPFs, there needs to be a mechanism to check that the emission control systems are working properly.

The webinar also presented a Chilean experience of a voluntary particle emissions measurement campaign carried out with part of Santiago’s public transport system fleet.

The AD HOC and voluntary working party is composed of representatives of the public and academic sectors from the four countries in which CALAC+ works: Mexico, Colombia, Peru and Chile. It is expected to produce a consensus document by the end of the year, which will be available for all interested parties.

The presentations can be seen on the following links:

• Framework of the implementation of a PTI PN Test Procedure
• Campaign to measure nanoparticles in buses in Santiago
• Questions for Gerrit Kadijk (TNO) Internal NPTI web seminar

About CALAC+

The Clean Air and Climate Programme in Latin American Cities (CALAC+) was implemented with a vision of healthier cities that reduce their emissions of short-lived climate pollutants (such as black carbon) and atmospheric gases and greenhouse gases (GHGs) by fostering a shift towards soot-free and low-carbon urban buses and off-road machinery

Its core objective is to reduce harmful air pollutants by using soot-free engines in urban public transport and off-road machinery to protect human health and mitigate climate change.

For further information:
CALAC+, Fact sheet, Embassy of Switzerland, Swiss Development and Cooperation Agency (SDC)
Web CALAC+