Emissions of Light Duty Vehicle Tested under Urban and Extraurban Real-World Driving Conditions with Diesel, Animal Fat Biodiesel and GTL fuels

Regulated gaseous emissions and particle concentrations, with commercial diesel fuel, animal fat biodiesel and gas to liquid (GTL) fuel from a Low Temperature Fischer-Tropsch process, have been studied. Tests were carried out in a light duty vehicle (Nissan Qashqai, 110 kW, Euro 4) equipped with variable geometry turbocharger (VGT), cooled exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), common rail with split fuel injection strategy, diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) and diesel particle filter (DPF). Vehicle tests were carried out at real-world driving conditions. Specific emissions, in g/km, were determined separately for two test circuits (urban and extraurban). Results show that the use of alternative fuels reduced THC and CO emissions compared to diesel fuel while only slight differences were observed in NOx emissions and in particle number concentration. However, since the vehicle was operated under different operating modes than those included in NEDC (out of the optimized zone of the engine map), specific emissions were generally different than those established in Euro 4 normative.