Automobile emissions of acetonitrile: Assessment of its contribution to the global source

Based on an estimated global fuel consumption of 2.57 x 10(15) g(C) y(-1) and the assumption that the fossil fuel burned in Austria is globally representative, an upper limit of 0.021 (+150%, -50%) Tg y(-1) for global CH(3)CN emission due to fossil fuel burning was obtained from the relative enhancement of the concentrations of toluene, benzene, and acetonitrile (methyl cyanide) during strong, short-term traffic pollution. This is less than 6% of the total global budget of CH(3)CN, which is dominated by an emission rate of 0.8 Tg y(-1) from biomass burning.