Exhaust and evaporative volatile organic compounds emissions from vehicles fueled with ethanol-blended-gasoline

Abstract

By 2020, China has implemented the use of 10% ethanol-blended-gasoline (E10), which is expected to notably impact vehicular volatile organic compounds (VOCs) emissions. The adoption of E10 reduced certain emissions but raised concerns with about more reactive oxygenated volatile organic compounds (OVOCs). This study aimed to evaluate the impact of E10 on the total VOCs emissions from both exhaust and evaporative emissions by conducting tests on the CHINA V (or CHINA VI) light-duty gasoline vehicles (LDGVs) using 0% ethanol blended gasoline (E0) and E10. E10 reduces VOCs emissions in the exhaust, and reduces the ozone and secondary organic aerosol generation potential of VOCs in the exhaust, as evidenced by the lower emission factors (EFs), ozone formation potentials (OFPs) and secondary organic aerosol formation potential (SOAFPs) in the CHINA V LDGVs. Evaporative emissions showed differences in emitted VOCs, with lower EFs, OFPs and SOAFPs for the CHINA V LDGVs fueled with E10. The CHINA VI LDGVs also exhibited reduced EFs, OFPs and SOAFPs. These findings highlight the environmental benefits of E10 in the CHINA VI-compliant LDGVs; however, the effectiveness of the earlier CHINA V standard vehicles requires further evaluation.