The Effect of Gasoline Aromatics Content on Exhaust Emissions: A Cooperative Test Program

A cooperative vehicle exhaust emissions test program was conducted by the California Air Resources Board and Chevron Research and Technology Company. The focus of the program was to determine the effect of aromatics content on nitrogen oxides (NO_x) emissions. The program consisted of testing nine vehicles on three different fuels. The fuels ranged in aromatics content from 10% to 30%.* Other fuel properties were held as constant as possible.

The tests were conducted in two different laboratories. In addition to the measurement of criteria emissions (hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and NO_x), some of the hydrocarbon emissions were speciated and a reactivity of the exhaust was calculated. Only slight changes in the exhaust emissions and reactivity were observed for a change in aromatics content from 30% to 10%.