Evaporative Emissions from Vehicles Operating on Methanol/Gasoline Blends

A series of evaporative emission tests was conducted to determine the influence of the addition of methanol to gasoline and length of service on evaporative emissions from light-duty vehicles. Results from these tests show that using a 10% methanol/90% gasoline blend increases evaporative emissions by 130% for short-term use and 220% for long-term use relative to the evaporative emissions produced using a reference gasoline. The evaporative hydrocarbon emissions produced when the vehicles were operating on the methanol blend had a slightly higher photochemical reactivity than those produced from the reference gasoline.