Number Concentration and Size Distribution of Particles Emitted by Light-duty Gasoline Vehicles

Abstract

In this study, three GDI (gasoline direct injection) and one PFI (port fuel injection) light-duty gasoline vehicles were characterized for their particle emission (number concentration and size distributions). Two condensation particle counters (CPC) with different activation efficiencies (50% cut off diameter) were used. It was found that the number concentration of particles emitted by GDI gasoline vehicle was approximately one order of magnitude higher than that from PFI gasoline vehicle. High emission of particles occurred within the first 200 s of cold start. The number concentration of particles emitted from GDI vehicle was largely influenced by the vehicle working condition, while that of PFI vehicle was relatively stable despite of varying working conditions. The size distributions of particles emitted from GDI and PFI vehicles had both nucleation mode and accumulation mode. The peak diameter of nucleation mode particles was in the range of 20-27 nm, while that of accumulation mode particle was in the range of 80-95 nm. The number concentrations measured by the UCPC (50% cut off diameter of 2.5 nm) were 35% (GDI) and 50.4% (PFI), respectively, higher than those measured by the CPC (50% cut off diameter of 23 nm) used by the regulation.