24^th ETH-Conference on Combustion Generated Nanoparticles

The ETH Conference on Combustion-Generated Nanoparticles in 2021 was organized as an online conference under the auspice of the Swiss Chemical Society. It served as an interdisciplinary platform for expert discussions on all aspects of nanoparticles, freshly emitted from various sources, aged in ambient air, technical mitigation aspects, impact of particles on health, environment and climate and particle legislation. The conference brought together representatives from research, industry and legislation.

Conference Topics

• Ambient Indoor and Climate
• Aircraft, marine and Non-Road
• Metrology and Legislation
• Emission control and aftertreatment
• Health and Toxicity
• Fundamentals

Focus Event: Combustion and Climate Change

Combustion engines are produced at large scales and applied worldwide to transport goods and people. The IPCC estimated that 7.0 Gt CO₂ eq. of direct greenhouse gas emissions were released by the transport sector in 2010. This corresponded to 23% of the total energy-related CO₂ emissions. Without aggressive mitigation policies, transport emissions are expected to reach 12 Gt CO₂ eq. by 2050. Thus decoupling of the transport sector from CO₂ emissions will be a major challenge to tackle.

Health Session

The session provided new experimental and epidemiological results about health consequences of combustion emissions. Special emphasis was on aspects of air pollution and viral infections, including the COVID-19 epidemic.