The impact from the direct injection and multi-port fuel injection technologies for gasoline vehicles on solid particle number and black carbon emissions

Abstract. Gasoline vehicles significantly contribute to urban particulate matter (PM) pollution. Gasoline direct injection (GDI) engines, known for their higher fuel efficiency than that of port fuel injection (PFI) engines, have been increasingly employed in new gasoline vehicles. However, the impact of this trend on air quality is still poorly understood. Here, we investigated both primary emissions and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation from a GDI and a PFI vehicle under an urban-like driving condition, using combined approaches involving chassis dynamometer measurements and an environmental chamber simulation. The PFI vehicle emits slightly more volatile organic compounds, e.g., benzene and toluene, whereas the GDI vehicle emits more particulate components, e.g., total PM, elemental carbon, primary organic aerosols and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Strikingly, we found a much higher SOA production (by a factor of approximately 2.7) from the exhaust of the GDI vehicle than that of the PFI vehicle under the same conditions. More importantly, the higher SOA production found in the GDI vehicle exhaust occurs concurrently with lower concentrations of traditional SOA precursors, e.g., benzene and toluene, indicating a greater contribution of intermediate volatility organic compounds and semi-volatile organic compounds in the GDI vehicle exhaust to the SOA formation. Our results highlight the considerable potential contribution of GDI vehicles to urban air pollution in the future.

Download Full-text

Gasoline direct injection vehicles exceed port fuel injection ones in both primary aerosol emission and secondary aerosol formation

10.5194/acp-2017-776 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Zhuofei Du ◽

Min Hu ◽

Jianfei Peng ◽

Wenbin Zhang ◽

Jing Zheng ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Organic Compounds ◽

Fuel Injection ◽

Direct Injection ◽

Gasoline Direct Injection ◽

Aerosol Formation ◽

Vehicle Exhaust ◽

Port Fuel Injection ◽

Aerosol Emission ◽

Gasoline Vehicles ◽

The Impact

Abstract. Gasoline vehicles greatly contribute importantly to urban particulate matter (PM) pollution. Gasoline direct injection (GDI) engines, known as their higher fuel efficiency than that of port fuel injection (PFI) engines, have been increasingly employed in new gasoline vehicles. However, the impact of this trend on air quality is still poorly understood. Here, we investigated both primary emissions and secondary organic aerosol (SOA) formation from GDI and PFI vehicles under urban-like condition, using combined approaches involving chassis dynamometer measurement and environmental chamber simulation. The PFI vehicle emits slightly more volatile organic compounds, e.g., benzene and toluene, whereas the GDI vehicle emits more particulate components, e.g., the total PM, elemental carbon, primary organic aerosols and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. Strikingly, a much higher SOA production (by a factor of approximately 2.7) is found from the exhaust of the GDI vehicle than that of the PFI vehicle under the same conditions. More importantly, the higher SOA production found in the GDI vehicle exhaust occurs concurrently with lower concentrations of traditional SOA precursors, e.g., benzene and toluene, indicating a greater contribution of intermediate volatility organic compounds and semivolatile organic compounds in the GDI vehicle exhaust to the SOA formation. Our results highlight the considerable potential contribution of GDI vehicles to urban air pollution in the future.

Download Full-text

The Impact of Isobutanol and Ethanol on Gasoline Fuel Properties and Black Carbon Emissions from Two Light-Duty Gasoline Vehicles

10.4271/2015-01-1076 ◽

2015 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Tak W. Chan

Keyword(s):

Black Carbon ◽

Carbon Emissions ◽

Fuel Properties ◽

Light Duty ◽

Gasoline Vehicles ◽

The Impact

Download Full-text

Particle number measurements in the European legislation and future JRC activities

Combustion Engines ◽

10.19206/ce-2018-301 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 174 (3) ◽

pp. 3-16

Author(s):

Barouch GIECHASKIEL ◽

Tero LAHDE ◽

Ricardo SUAREZ-BERTOA ◽

Michael CLAIROTTE ◽

Theodoros GRIGORATOS ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Solid Particle ◽

Particle Number ◽

Fuel Injection ◽

Direct Injection ◽

Special Focus ◽

The European Union ◽

Heavy Duty ◽

Direct Injection Engines ◽

Light Duty ◽

On The Road

The solid particle number method was introduced in the European Union (EU) light-duty legislation for diesel vehicles to ensure the installation of the best-available technology for particles (i.e., wall-flow diesel particulate filters) without the uncertainties of the volatile nucleation mode and without the need of large investment for purchasing the equipment. Later it was extended to gasoline vehicles with direct injection engines, heavy-duty engines (both compression ignition and positive ignitions) and non-road mobile machinery engines. Real Driving Emissions (RDE) testing on the road with Portable Emissions Measurement Systems (PEMS) for particle number (and NOx) during type approval and in-service conformity testing was recently (in 2017) introduced for light-duty vehicles, and is under discussion for heavy-duty vehicles in-service conformity testing. This paper will summarize the existing legislation regarding solid particle number and discuss the on-going activities at EU level. The main focus at the moment is on improving the calibration procedures, and extending the lower detection size below 23 nm with inter-laboratory exercises. In parallel, discussions are on-going to introduce testing at low ambient temperature, regeneration emissions in the light-duty regulation, a particle limit for other technologies such as gasoline port-fuel injection vehicles, and the feasibility of particle measurements to L-category vehicles (mopeds, motorcycles, tricycles and minicars). A short overview of periodical technical inspection investigations and the situation regarding non-exhaust traffic related sources with special focus on brakes and tyres will be described.

Download Full-text

Assessment of the Fuel Composition Impact on Black Carbon Mass, Particle Number Size Distributions, Solid Particle Number, Organic Materials, and Regulated Gaseous Emissions from a Light-Duty Gasoline Direct Injection Truck and Passenger Car

Energy & Fuels ◽

10.1021/acs.energyfuels.7b01345 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 31 (10) ◽

pp. 10452-10466 ◽

Cited By ~ 12

Author(s):

Tak W. Chan ◽

David Lax ◽

Garry C. Gunter ◽

Jill Hendren ◽

Joseph Kubsh ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Black Carbon ◽

Solid Particle ◽

Particle Number ◽

Direct Injection ◽

Gasoline Direct Injection ◽

Fuel Composition ◽

Size Distributions ◽

Gaseous Emissions ◽

Light Duty ◽

Carbon Mass

Download Full-text

European Regulatory Framework and Particulate Matter Emissions of Gasoline Light-Duty Vehicles: A Review

Catalysts ◽

10.3390/catal9070586 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 9 (7) ◽

pp. 586 ◽

Cited By ~ 23

Author(s):

Barouch Giechaskiel ◽

Ameya Joshi ◽

Leonidas Ntziachristos ◽

Panagiota Dilara

Keyword(s):

Particulate Matter ◽

Ambient Temperature ◽

Particle Number ◽

Fuel Injection ◽

Gasoline Direct Injection ◽

The European Union ◽

Particulate Filters ◽

Gasoline Vehicles ◽

On The Road ◽

The Impact

The particulate matter (PM) emissions of gasoline vehicles were much lower than those of diesel vehicles until the introduction of diesel particulate filters (DPFs) in the early 2000s. At the same time, gasoline direct injection (GDI) engines started to become popular in the market due to their improved efficiency over port fuel injection (PFI) ones. However, the PM mass and number emissions of GDI vehicles were higher than their PFI counterparts and diesel ones equipped with DPFs. Stringent PM mass levels and the introduction of particle number limits for GDI vehicles in the European Union (EU) resulted in significant PM reductions. The EU requirement to fulfill the proposed limits on the road resulted to the introduction of gasoline particulate filters (GPFs) in EU GDI models. This review summarizes the evolution of PM mass emissions from gasoline vehicles placed in the market from early 1990s until 2019 in different parts of the world. The analysis then extends to total and nonvolatile particle number emissions. Care is given to reveal the impact of ambient temperature on emission levels. The discussion tries to provide scientific input to the following policy-relevant questions. Whether particle number limits should be extended to gasoline PFI vehicles, whether the lower limit of 23 nm for particle number measurements should be decreased to 10 nm, and whether low ambient temperature tests for PM should be included.

Download Full-text