Characterization of the emission of particles larger than 10 nm in the exhaust of modern gasoline and CNG light duty vehicles

Abstract

Current particle number (PN) emission limits set by regulation, involve counted particles with a dimension >23 nm. The measurement procedure is specified and involves the dilution of the exhaust gas in a so-called constant volume sampling (CVS) device. Research efforts are concentrating in the further development of existing measurement techniques in order to capture smaller particles down to 10 nm, given their higher health threatening potential.In the present study, six state of art, Euro 6, gasoline vehicles and in addition, one compressed natural gas (CNG) light duty vehicle, have been measured on the chassis dynamometer during different test cycles. Three particle sampling lines have been used, two in parallel at the CVS, counting particles >23 nm and 10 nm, and a third one directly at the tailpipe of the vehicle. The results allow a detailed evaluation of the emitted PNs. In addition, differences in the emissions patterns of the direct fuel injection (DI) and multi point port injection (MPI) gasoline vehicles could be identified. During cold starts, particles have been separated in distinctive size classes in order to obtain relevant number-size distributions.Counting particles >10 nm resulted in roughly doubling the PN emissions in respect to those when counting particles >23 nm. This relation holds for all examined driving cycles. PNs measured at the CVS where significantly higher than at the tailpipe, especially when capturing also the smaller particles. The CVS could be identified contributing to the increase of the registered particle numbers during cycle parts with no or very low engine particle emissions.Lowest PN emissions have been measured in combination with the CNG vehicle. The differences between DI and MPI gasoline vehicles have been significantly lower than expected from previous studies. While the MPI gasoline vehicles have been identified to emit more PN during cold start, the DI vehicles emit larger numbers during high engine loads. During cold starts, higher emissions of smallest particles have been evident.The increased rated power to displacement ratio of modern engines, based on the current “downsizing” trend, shows a good correlation with the PN emissions.