Characterization of On-Road Vehicle NO Emissions by a TILDAS Remote Sensor

ABSTRACT

A tunable infrared laser differential absorption spectrometer (TILDAS) was used to remotely sense the nitric oxide (NO) emissions from 1,473 on-road vehicles. The real-world measurement precision of this instrument in the limit of low NO concentration is 5 ppm of the vehicle exhaust, which corresponds to a 3o detection limit of 15 ppm. Our analysis of the distribution of negative concentration measurements produced during this experiment supports this claim, showing that the instrumental noise for this set of measurements was at most 8 ppm in the limit of low NO concentration. The high sensitivity of this instrument allowed us to measure the NO emissions of even the cleanest vehicles. The measured vehicle fleet NO emissions closely fit a gamma distribution with 10% of the fleet contributing about 50% of the total fleet emissions. Newer vehicles had lower NO emissions than older ones, but high NO emitters were found in every vehicle age cohort. On a vehicle-by-vehicle basis, NO emissions correlated very weakly with vehicle velocity, acceleration, power per unit mass, carbon monoxide (CO) emissions, and hydrocarbon (HC) emissions. High NO emitting vehicles could not be identified by remote sensing of CO or HC emissions and vice versa. When we compared the NO emissions for 117 vehicles measured more than one time, about half of the high NO emitters were found to be very consistent, while the other half varied significantly.     

Real-World Vehicle Emissions: A Summary of the Sixth Coordinating Research Council On-Road Vehicle Emissions Workshop

The Coordinating Research Council (CRC) has conducted a series of workshops on real-world vehicle emissions. This article summarizes findings from the most recent research regarding on-road emissions from mobile sources, presented at the CRC workshop held in March 1996. Among the topics discussed were efforts to improve and update emission models, results from field studies designed to understand the contribution of mobile sources to emission inventories, results from gas-and particle-phase emissions studies from in-use motor vehicles, and areas of future research.

The Sixth Coordinating Research Council (CRC) On-Road Vehicle Emissions Workshop was held March 18-20, 1996, in San Diego, CA. More than 160 representatives from academia, industry, government, and consulting firms in the United States, Canada, and Europe participated in the three-day meeting. The objective of the Workshop was to present the most recent information from research programs on:

mobile source contributions to the emission inventory

emission factor models and activity data

model comparison and development

emission reduction programs

new developments in remote sensing

studies of on-road vehicle exhaust and non-tailpipe emissions

off-cycle Federal Test Procedure (FTP) studies and revisions to the FTP

particle emissions from the light- and heavy-duty fleets

future research needs

Nine sessions were devoted to vehicle emissions models, improvements to the emission inventory, on-road and tunnel studies, off-cycle emissions, non-tailpipe and diesel emissions, emission reduction programs, and remote sensing. Overall workshop coordination was provided by Timothy Belian and the CRC staff, with Steven Cadle and Robert Gorse serving as cochairmen. Individual session chairmen were Brent Bailey (National Renewable Energy Laboratory), Mark Carlock (California Air Resources Board), Harold Haskew (General Motors), Kenneth Knapp and Philip Lorang (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency), Douglas Lawson (Colorado State University), Alan Lloyd (Desert Research Institute), Robert Slott (Shell Oil), and Timothy Truex (University of California, Riverside). In addition, during the Workshop, Lesha Hrynchuk of the California Air Resources Board (CARB) presented a hands-on demonstration using the Internet to obtain motor vehicle emissions information from groups throughout the world. The complete Workshop proceedings are available from the Coordinating Research Council, 219 Perimeter Center Parkway, Atlanta, GA 30346; phone: (770) 396-3400; fax: (770) 396-3404. The following summarizes each session and includes a short synopsis of all the papers that were presented.     

Real-World Vehicle Emissions: A Summary of the Tenth Coordinating Research Council On-Road Vehicle Emissions Workshop

ABSTRACT

The Coordinating Research Council (CRC) held its tenth workshop in March 2000, focusing on results from the most recent real-world vehicle emissions research. In this paper, we summarize the presentations from researchers who are engaged in improving our understanding of the contribution of mobile sources to emission inventories. Participants in the workshop discussed efforts to improve mobile source emission models and emission inventories, results from gas- and particle-phase emissions studies from spark-ignition and diesel-powered vehicles, new methods for measuring mobile source emissions, improvements in vehicle emission control systems (ECSs), and evaluation of motor vehicle inspection/maintenance (I/M) programs, as well as topics for future research.     

Real-World Vehicle Emissions: A Summary of the Ninth Coordinating Research Council On-Road Vehicle Emissions Workshop

ABSTRACT

In April 1999, the Coordinating Research Council sponsored a workshop focusing on our understanding of real-world emissions from motor vehicles. This summary presents the latest information on in-use light- and heavy-duty vehicle tailpipe and evaporative emissions, the effects of fuels on emissions, field programs designed to understand the contribution of mobile sources to emission inventories, efforts to evaluate and improve mobile source emission models, progress of vehicle inspection/ maintenance programs, and topics for future research. While significant progress has been made in understanding in-use vehicle emissions, further improvements are necessary. Moreover, the impact of current and future changes in emission control technologies and control programs will have to be monitored for effectiveness and incorporated into the emission factor models.     

Characterization of Emissions from Diffusion Flare Systems

ABSTRACT

Emissions from flares typical of those found at oil-field battery sites in Alberta, Canada, were investigated to determine the degree to which the flared gases were burned and to characterize the products of combustion in the emissions. The study consisted of laboratory, pilot-scale, and field-scale investigations. Combustion of all hydrocarbon fuels in both laboratory and pilot-scale tests produced a complex variety of hydrocarbon products within the flame, primarily by pyrolytic reactions. Acetylene, eth-ylene, benzene, styrene, ethynyl benzene, and naphthalene were some of the major constituents produced by conversion of more than 10% of the methane within the flames. The majority of the hydrocarbons produced within the flames of pure gas fuels were effectively destroyed in the outer combustion zone, resulting in combustion efficiencies greater than 98% as measured in the emissions.

The addition of liquid hydrocarbon fuels or condensates to pure gas streams had the largest effect on impairing the ability of the resulting flame to destroy the pyrolytically produced hydrocarbons, as well as the original hydrocarbon fuels directed to the flare. Crosswinds were also found to reduce the combustion efficiency (CE) of the co-flowing gas/condensate flames by causing more unburned fuel and the pyrolytically produced hydrocarbons to escape into the emissions.

Flaring of solution gas at oil-field battery sites was found to burn with an efficiency of 62-82%, depending on either how much fuel was directed to flare or how much liquid hydrocarbon was in the knockout drum. Benzene, styrene, ethynyl benzene, ethynyl-methyl benzenes, toluene, xylenes, acenaphthalene, biphenyl, and fluorene were, in most cases, the most abundant compounds found in any of the emissions examined in the field flare testing. The emissions from sour solution gas flaring also contained reduced sulfur compounds and thiophenes.     

Remote Sensing Data and a Potential Model of Vehicle Exhaust Emissions

In June 1991, General Motors Research and Development Center (GMR&D) participated in a remote sensing study conducted by the California Air Resources Board and the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. During this study, the GMR&D remote sensor was used to measure the carbon monoxide (CO) and hydrocarbon (HC) emissions from approximately 15,000 vehicles. The vehicle type (passenger car, light-duty truck, or medium/heavy-duty truck), manufacturer, and model year were identified for each vehicle by acquiring registration data from the state of California. Analyses were performed separately for each vehicle type and for passenger cars by separate model years. The data indicate that the passenger cars with the highest 10% of CO emissions generated approximately 58% of the total CO from all cars. Similarly, the 10% highest HC-emitting cars generated 65% of the total HC from cars. It was found that for each model year of vehicle, the distribution of emission concentrations followed a logarithmic relationship. The logarithmic functions that describe these relationships can be used to estimate the fraction of vehicles that emitted at or above any given concentration of CO or HC. However, these logarithmic functions only describe measured distributions for vehicles emitting more than 1% CO and 0.015% HC.     

Penetration of Evaporative Emissions into a Home from an M85-Fueled Vehicle Parked in an Attached Garage

ABSTRACT

The use of both oxygenated fuels in carbon monoxide (CO) nonattainment areas and reformulated gasoline in ozone nonattainment areas has been mandated by the 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments. Methanol has been proposed as an alternative fuel for CO nonattainment areas. Its use will potentially increase indoor methanol inhalation exposure resulting from the evaporation of metha-nol vapor from methanol-fueled vehicles parked in residential garages. Indoor air concentrations of metha-nol, benzene, and toluene were measured in a residential home with an attached garage. The effects of vehicle emission control devices (charcoal canister hose connection); home heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) fans; ambient air, garage, and fuel tank temperatures; and wind speed were examined.

The disconnection of the charcoal canister hose, which simulates a spent evaporative emission control device, resulted in elevated benzene, toluene, and metha-nol concentrations in the garage and attached home. Higher fuel tank temperatures resulted in higher benzene and toluene concentrations in the garage, but not methanol. The concentrations for all compounds in the garage and concentrations of benzene and toluene in the adjacent room were lower when the HVAC fan was on than when it was off, while the concentrations of all three compounds in the rest of the house were higher, although these differences were not statistically significant. Thus, the portion of the population that parks cars in garages attached to homes will experience increased methanol exposures if methanol is used as an automotive fuel.     

Emissions from an automobile fire

The emissions from automobile fires have been investigated. The main gas phase components were analysed in small-scale tests with representative material from an automobile. A more detailed investigation of full-scale simulated automobile fires was also conducted, including the characterisation of gas phase components, particulates and run-off water from extinguishing activities. Three separate full scale fire tests have been characterised: a fire ignited and developed in the engine compartment; a fire ignited inside the coupé, that was extinguished in the early stages; and a similar fire ignited inside the coupé that was allowed to spread until the entire vehicle was involved in the fire. The quantitative analysis of the smoke gases from the full-scale fires showed that emissions with a potentially negative impact on the environment, or chronic toxic effect on humans, were produced in significant quantities. These emissions included HCl, SO2, VOCs (e.g. benzene), PAHs, and PCDDs/PCDFs. Analysis of run-off water indicated that it was severely contaminated, containing elevated levels of both organic compounds and metals. Comparison with data from other vehicle fires found in the literature shows that contamination by lead, copper, zinc, and antimony appears to be significant in water run-off from these types of fires.     

Sensitivity Analysis and Evaluation of MicroFacCO: A Microscale Motor Vehicle Emission Factor Model for CO Emissions

ABSTRACT

This paper presents a sensitivity analysis of a microscale emission factor model (MicroFacCO) for predicting realtime site-specific motor vehicle CO emissions to input variables, as well as a limited field study evaluation of the model. The sensitivity analysis has shown that MicroFacCO emission estimates are very sensitive to vehicle fleet composition, speed, and ambient temperature. For the present U.S. traffic fleet, the CO emission rate (g/mi) is increased by more than 500% at 5 mph in comparison with a speed greater than 40 mph and by ~67% at ambient temperatures of 45 °F and ≥95 °F in comparison with an ambient temperature of 75 °F.     

Daily Variability of Motor Vehicle Emissions Derived from Traffic Counter Data

ABSTRACT

This work studied the daily variability of mobile sources in rural and urban areas, in and around the Atlanta Metropolitan Area. Traffic counter data collected during the 1992 Southern Oxidants Study Atlanta Intensive Study were used to analyze the spatial and temporal distribution of traffic volume. A simple method to study the daily variability of mobile emissions from the different types of urban and rural roads is presented. The method is based on hourly traffic volume data and emission factors and it has been generalized to describe the daily variability of mobile emissions for urban and rural areas and for the whole modeling domain. Implications of this study for improving mobile emission inventories are also discussed.     

Urban CO Concentrations and Vehicle Emissions

The effect of the general growth of CO vehicular emissions in urban areas on the CAMP station measurements in downtown areas, where vehicular traffic is saturated is considered. With the assumption that the street-level CO concentration is derived from the sum of an urban background term and a local street-effect term, the urban background CO concentration is computed with a diffusion model by introducing a simple area source distribution. The local street-effect term is taken to be constant at a saturation emission level corresponding to a saturation traffic density when the emission per vehicle-mile and meteorological conditions are fixed. The present analysis indicates that the local street-effect term, AC, has a major role in determining street-level concentrations for pollutants, such as CO, whose air quality standard is based on maximum concentrations with averaging times of 1 hour and 8 hours. The relevance of this analysis to the abatement requirements of the Clean Air Amendments and to the driving cycle adopted is discussed.     

Real-World Emissions from a Modern Production Vehicle Driven in Los Angeles

The emissions of hydrocarbons, nitric oxide, and carbon monoxide from one modern vehicle were measured using on-board instrumentation during about 350 miles of driving in Los Angeles, California. Emissions during on-road driving were compared to those obtained on dynamometers using the urban dynamometer driving schedule (UDDS). Although this study only used one driver and vehicle, tested over a relatively short distance, the analysis technique may be useful for a larger evaluation of off-cycle emissions.

The test vehicle had low warmed-up running emissions over the UDDS and for most of the on-road testing where the air-to-fuel ratio was maintained at the stoichiometric point. However, occasional heavily-loaded conditions during the on-road testing led to richerthan-stoiehiometric operation.

During these brief enrichment events, which lasted up to 29 seconds, CO emissions were increased by a factor of 2500 and HC by a factor of 40 over closed-loop stoichiometric operation. Nitrogen oxide emissions were similar during low-load stoichiometric operation and high-load enriched operation. The relatively constant gram-per-second emission rate of CO and HC observed during enriched operation suggests that such information can be combined with determinations of the frequency of enrichment for a large number of vehicles with similar calibrations to estimate the impact of the additional emissions from enrichment on emissions inventories.     

Costs,Emissions Reductions,and Vehicle Repair: Evidence from Arizona

ABSTRACT

The Arizona inspection and maintenance (I/M) program provides one of the first opportunities to examine the costs and effectiveness of vehicle emission repair. This paper examines various aspects of emission reductions, fuel economy improvements, and repair costs, drawing data from over 80,000 vehicles that failed the I/M test in Arizona between 1995 and the first half of 1996. We summarize the wealth of data on repair from the Arizona program and highlight its limitations. Because missing or incomplete cost information has been a serious shortcoming for the evaluation of I/M programs, we develop a method for estimating repair costs when they are not reported. We find surprising evidence that almost one quarter of all vehicles that take the I/M test are never observed to pass the test. Using a statistical analysis, we provide some information about the differences between the vehicles that pass and those that do not. Older, more polluting vehicles are much more likely never to pass the I/M test, and their expected repair costs are much higher than those for newer cars.

This paper summarizes the evidence on costs and emission reductions in the Arizona program, comparing costs and emissions reductions between cars and trucks. Finally, we examine the potential for more cost-effective repair, first through an analysis of tightening I/M cut points and then by calculating the cost savings of achieving different emission reduction goals when the most cost-effective repairs are made first.     

Characterization of Emissions of Volatile Organic Compounds from Interior Alkyd Paint

ABSTRACT

Alkyd paint continues to be used indoors for application to wood trim, cabinet surfaces, and some kitchen and bathroom walls. Alkyd paint may represent a significant source of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) indoors because of the frequency of use and amount of surface painted. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is conducting research to characterize VOC emissions from paint and to develop source emission models that can be used for exposure assessment and risk management. The technical approach for this research involves both analysis of the liquid paint to identify and quantify the VOC contents and dynamic small chamber emissions tests to characterize the VOC emissions after application. The predominant constituents of the primer and two alkyd paints selected for testing were straight-chain alkanes (C9–C12); C8–C9 aromatics were minor constituents. Branched chain alkanes were the predominant VOCs in a third paint. A series of tests were performed to evaluate factors that may affect emissions following application of the coatings. The type of substrate (glass, wallboard, or pine board) did not have a substantial impact on the emissions with respect to peak concentrations, the emissions profile, or the amount of VOC mass emitted from the paint. Peak concentrations of total volatile organic compounds (TVOCs) as high as 10,000 mg/m³ were measured during small chamber emissions tests at 0.5 air exchanges per hour (ACH). Over 90% of the VOCs were emitted from the primer and paints during the first 10 hr following application. Emissions were similar from paint applied to bare pine board, a primed board, or a board previously painted with the same paint. The impact of other variables, including film thickness, air velocity at the surface, and air-exchange rate (AER) were consistent with theoretical predictions for gas-phase, mass transfer-controlled emissions. In addition to the alkanes and aromatics, aldehydes were detected in the emissions during paint drying. Hexanal, the predominant aldehyde in the emissions, was not detected in the liquid paint and was apparently an oxidation product formed during drying. This paper summarizes the results of the product analyses and a series of small chamber emissions tests. It also describes the use of a mass balance approach to evaluate the impact of test variables and to assess the quality of the emissions data.     

Characterization of Emissions from Vehicles Using Methanol and Methanol-Gasoline Blended Fuels

Exhaust and evaporative emissions were examined from vehicles fueled with methanol or a gasoline-methanol blend. Regulated automobile pollutants, as well as detailed hydrocarbons, methanol, and aldehydes were measured, and exhaust emission trends were obtained for vehicle operation over five different driving cycles. Results indicated that use of the blended fuel does not generally have any significant effect on base-line exhaust emission rates of regulated pollutants; however, emission rates of aldehydes increased during the Federal Test Procedure. Aldehyde emissions from the methanol-fueled car were roughly an order of magnitude higher than those resulting from blended fuel usage. The hydrocarbon composition of evaporative emissions with the blended fuel was similar to that with the base-line fuel except when canister breakthrough occurred. Evaporative emissions during breakthrough were comprised chiefly of N-butane.     

Characterization of Emissions from a Variable Gasoline/Methanol Fueled Car

In response to the occurrence of the increasingly severe ambient ozone exceedances, regional environmental managers are examining the possibility of a cleaner fuel for automobiles. At this time the leading candidate appears to be methanol. In anticipation of a shift to methanol, flexible-fueled automobiles capable of operating on gasoline and/or methanol are being developed. This study examines both the exhaust and evaporative emissions from a prototype General Motors Variable Fuel Corsica. Results are reported for tests conducted at temperatures of 40°, 75°, and 90° F, and for fuels MO M25, M50, M85, and M100. In addition to regulated emissions and fuel economy, emission rates for methanol, aldehydes, and a large number of hydrocarbon compounds were measured. The data indicate that increasing the fuel's methanol content does not affect the exhaust organic emission rate (calculated in accordance with the regulation) from flexible-fueled cars, but formaldehyde and methanol comprise increasingly greater portions of the organic material while hydrocarbons comprise less. Increasing fuel methanol content has no significant effect on exhaust regulated emission rates (organic material, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides) nor on the composition of total hydrocarbons, except for methane, which increases substantially. The effect of ambient temperature on both exhaust and evaporative emissions is similar to its effect on gasoline cars: organic and carbon monoxide exhaust emissions increase substantially at the lower temperatures, and evaporative emissions increase steadily with increases in temperature.