Engine Emissions Prove Hard To Lower

Abstract

A consortium of oil firms and auto manufacturers has released its first data from a major testing program analyzing how gasolines can be altered to reduce emissions. These data show emissions are a complicated problem and that gasoline composition changes will not be equally effective in all vehicle technologies. These first test results were presented late last month by Joseph M. Colucci, head of fuel and lubricants at General Motors Research Laboratories, and John J. Wise, vice president of research for Mobil Research and Development Corp. They represented the three major automakers and 14 oil companies undertaking the research. Called the Auto/Oil Air Quality Improvement Research Program, it is an unprecedented cooperative effort by industry. The first phase of the program entails measuring emissions for a large variety of vehicle and fuel options and modeling the data to predict the ozone impacts from these emissions. An analysis of the relative costs of ozone control alternatives will also be conducted. The initial comprehensive testing program will involve 29 different fuels and 53 vehicles, eventually doing more than 2200 emissions tests. The intent was to determine, for the first time, just how the different fuels and vehicles interact to produce exhaust emissions.