On-road NOx and NH3 emissions measurements from in-use heavy-duty diesel and natural gas trucks in the South Coast air Basin of California

Abstract

This study characterized nitrogen oxides (NOx) and ammonia (NH3) emissions from five in-use goods movement vehicles, including one diesel vehicle without selective catalytic reduction (SCR), two diesel vehicles with SCR, and two ultra-low NOx natural gas vehicles equipped with three-way catalysts (TWCs). Emissions testing was performed under real-world driving conditions in typical goods movement routes in the South Coast Air Basin (SCAB) of California. NOx emissions varied depending on the vehicle and the route. The no-SCR diesel vehicle showed the highest NOx emissions over all the routes. One of the SCR-equipped vehicles showed NOx emission rates that were two times higher than the other SCR-equipped vehicle with similar engine model year and mileage, which may be attributed to catalyst deterioration. The SCR-equipped diesel vehicles were within two to three times 0.2 g/bhp-hr certification standard over the different routes. The natural gas vehicles showed average NOx emissions around or below the optional Low NOx emissions standard of 0.02 g/bhp-hr. The three-bin moving average window (MAW) method was utilized to show the NOx emissions across various modes of operation, including idle, low load, and medium/high load. The highest fraction of vehicle operation was found in either the low load or medium/high load bins, depending on the route. NOx emissions for each of the bins varied between different vehicles, and are further analyzed in this paper. NH3 emissions formation was favored for the TWC-equipped natural gas vehicles, which produced about 20 times more NH3 emissions than the SCR-equipped diesel vehicles.