Air Toxics: A Comparison of the Gas - and Particle-Phase Emissions from a High-Emitter Vehicle with Those from a Normal-Emitter Vehicle

A study was carried out to increase our understanding of the emissions of air toxics from normal and high-emitting vehicles. This study is part of a larger study on fuel effects in high-emitting vehicles, and is part of the Auto/Oil Air Quality Improvement Research Program (AQIRP). Detailed measurements were carried out on the emissions of two vehicles run on industry-average gasoline. The two vehicles, having similar emissions control technologies, represent a high-emitting vehicle and a normal-emitting vehicle. In addition to the regulated emissions (HC, CO, and NO_x), a detailed chemical analysis was carried out on the gas - and particle-phase non-regulated emissions.

The vehicles were tested over the U.S. EPA UDDS driving schedule. The high emitter was highly variable with regard to emissions, but always operated rich of the stoichiometric point. Up to 46% of fuel carbon was emitted as CO and unburned HC for the high emitter, compared to less than 1.4% for the normal emitter. Particle mass emissions were approximately 4-7X higher for the high emitter; however, extractable PAHs on the particles were 15-100X higher. The air-toxic species: benzene, 1,3-butadiene, formaldehyde, and acetaldehyde were emitted at rates of 10-40X higher from the high-emitter vehicle than from the normal-emitter vehicle.