Fuel Effects on Regulated Emissions from Modern Gasoline Vehicles

• Main Authors: Stradling, Richard, Bazzani, Roberto, Bjordal, Svein Daniel, Schmelzle, Pierre, Wolff, Guillermo, Thompson, Neville, Rickeard, David, Martinez, Pedro Miguel, Scorletti, Pietro, Zemroch, Peter J
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• ISSN: 0148-7191; 2688-3627
• DOI: 10.4271/2004-01-1886

The influence of gasoline quality on exhaust emissions has been evaluated using four modern European gasoline cars with advanced features designed to improve fuel economy and CO2 emissions, including stoichiometric direct injection, lean direct injection and MPI with variable valve actuation. Fuel effects studied included sulphur content, evaluated over a range from 4 to 148 mg/kg, and other gasoline properties, including aromatics content, olefins content, volatility and final boiling point (FBP). All four cars achieved very low emissions levels, with some clear differences between the vehicle technologies. Even at these low emissions levels, all four cars showed very little short-term sensitivity to gasoline sulphur content. The measured effects of the other gasoline properties were small and often conflicting, with differing directional responses for different vehicles and emissions.