ACEA Programme on the Emissions of Fine Particulates from Passenger Cars(2) Part1: Particle Characterisation of a Wide Range of Engine Technologies

The results of an investigation on PM emissions over an extended range of engine technologies are reported in this paper. These included modern Diesel vehicles, a particle trap equipped Diesel vehicle, a port-injected gasoline vehicle and direct injection gasoline vehicles. Various particulate measurement instruments were employed simultaneously, including SMPS, CPC, ELPI, for number and size and the standard gravimetric filter method for mass. Soxhlet extraction was applied to determine the chemical composition. The particle emissions showed a wide range in concentration for the different vehicles. The particle concentration of the port-injected gasoline vehicle and the trap-equipped Diesel vehicle were observed at background level. The direct injection gasoline vehicles showed a large variation in particle concentration depending on concept and operation mode but in all tests higher particle emissions in number and mass were observed than the conventional gasoline vehicle, but substantially below the conventional Diesel vehicles.