In the engine and vehicle test procedures described in Parts 1065/1066 of Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), the United States Environmental Protection Agency (US-EPA) allows for the measurement of N2O emissions from sample storage bags, from a continuous dilute stream or a raw exhaust stream. Typically, batch (Bag) sampling has better accuracy and repeatability, but continuous sampling is more efficient in terms of test cell running time and provides test-mode emissions with good correlation to bag measurements.
In this study, correlations between bag sampling and continuous dilute exhaust sampling were investigated using a fleet of vehicles with a wide range of N2O emission levels. Very good correlation between these two sampling methods was observed for the majority of tests conducted. In the best cases, differences in average N2O concentration levels measured by these two methods were less than +/− 1%. Interferences, analyzer range correlation, accuracy of calibration gas, data sampling speed and other parameters that may influence the difference in N2O levels measured using the two sampling methods were examined.