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Methane is a simplest hydrocarbon and is a gas with a strong greenhouse effect. Methane is emitted from the exhaust gas of passenger cars, among other hydrocarbons. This work examines the emission of methane from several European passenger cars. The impact of fuel (gasoline, diesel, compressed natural gas), of the emission technology/driving cycle (Euro1, Euro2, Euro3, Tax Incentives Euro4, Euro4 and some non European regulations) and of mileage on the methane emissions is studied in this work. For all the above parameters, the emission of methane, but also its percentage in the other hydrocarbons is analyzed. The results show a significant impact of all the above parameters on methane emissions.

Passenger cars emit exhaust emissions of regulated pollutants (CO, HC, NOx in the case of gasoline engines and also particulate matter (PM) in the case of diesel engines); however, they also emit several other pollutants which are not regulated (non-regulated pollutants, NRP). These pollutants are emitted in much lower concentrations than the regulated ones; however, they are sometimes much more dangerous for the environment and the human health. This work shows the emissions of several non-regulated pollutants of gasoline and diesel European passenger cars tested on the New European Driving Cycle. The pollutants studied in this work are individual HC and HC families, N₂O and NH₃, carbonyl compounds, PAH and nitro-PAH. The impact of emission technology from Euro1 to Tax Incentives Euro4, which are related with the emission level of regulated pollutants, and of mileage are presented and discussed.

The regulated pollutants (CO, HC, NOx and PM) and CO2 emissions on the New European Driving Cycle of European passenger cars are analyzed compared to the regulation limits. This analysis concerns all new models from 2000 to 2008, and is also divided to Diesel and petrol vehicles equipped with manual and automatic gear boxes and having technology corresponding to different emission regulations, Euro2, Euro3 and Euro4. The emissions of the main firms presented in the European market are also compared. This last comparison is mainly focused on CO2 emissions, but also to the PM Diesel emissions.

The exhaust CO2 emissions on the New European Driving Cycle and its urban and extra-urban part of the new passenger cars of European Union are correlated with four engine and vehicle characteristics: vehicle weight, engine displacement, engine max. power and engine max. specific power. Weight has the best correlations in the case of Diesel passenger cars and displacement in the case of gasoline ones. In the case of models with two variables, the model weight+specific power is the best in the case of Diesel passenger cars, while the model displacement+specific power is the best in the case of gasoline ones.

European regulations requires a minimum duration of 6 hours between two approval tests; however, as this duration is not sufficient for a complete engine cooling, most car manufactures use a duration of 24 hours. This higher duration implies larger cooling rooms and thus increased cost. In this work, different modes of fast cooling based on ventilators were tested in the case of a passenger car equipped with a gasoline engine. The best mode, for development but also for industrial purposes, is the one with the ventilator at the front of the vehicle with open hood and two smaller ventilators blowing in the engine. Using this cooling mode, the engine respects European regulations. A comparison between this mode of fast cooling and a mode of natural cooling of 24 hours shows that the two modes have very similar fuel consumption (expressed as CO2 emissions) and engine-out emissions of regulated pollutants (CO, HC and NOx).

This work analyses the new passenger cars' market of Great Britain during last years. The sales of new passenger cars and a number of parameters, such as kind of fuel, vehicle weight, engine displacement, engine maximum and specific power, vehicle segment and exhaust CO2 emissions on the New European Driving Cycle, are analyzed and discussed. This analysis is performed in the case of the entire British market and also for every segment and firm presented in this country. The contribution of each engine and vehicle parameter, vehicle segment and firms on exhaust CO2 emissions are presented and discussed.

Carbon dioxide emissions of the transport sector are one of the most important anthropogenic sources of this gas. The decrease of CO2 emissions can be achieved by the replacement of gasoline by Diesel passenger cars (PC), which emit less CO2. This method is applied in the case of the European Union (EU, 15 countries members). The EU new PC market is analyzed since 1970 and some estimations for the future (in the year 2020) fleet are presented. Fifty scenarios, using the number of new PC registrations, the fuel consumption (current and estimated future one), the Diesel penetration and the segment distribution are applied to estimate the future CO2 emissions change from new passenger cars in the EU. The results show that there are important differences between the 15 countries, because their PC fleets are very different.

The Particulate Measurement Programme (PMP) works on the identification of a method to replace or complete the existing particle mass (PM) measurement method. The French PMP subgroup, composed by IFP, PSA Peugeot-Citroën, Renault and UTAC, proposes an improved gravimetric method for the measurement of emitted particles, and conducted an inter-laboratory test to evaluate its performances. The technical programme is based on tests carried out on a Euro3 Diesel passenger car (PC), tested on the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC). To achieve low particulate matter (PM) emissions, the EGR is disconnected and a paraffinic fuel is used. The regulated pollutants are also measured. It is shown that the multiple filter weighing and a 0.1 μg balance instead of a 1 μg one are not necessary, as the first weighing and the 1 μg balance performances are satisfactory for type-approval purposes.

Electrical Low Pressure Impactor (ELPI) is often employed to measure the particle number and size distribution of internal combustion engines exhaust gas. If appropriate values of particle density are available, the particle mass can be estimated by this method. Exhaust particles of three Euro3 passenger cars (one gasoline operating under stoichiometric conditions, one Diesel and one Diesel equipped with Diesel Particulate Filter) are measured using the current European regulations (gravimetric method on the are New European Driving Cycle) and estimated by ELPI particle number and size distribution. Different values for particle density are used to estimate the particle mass using all ELPI stages or only some of them. The results show that the particle mass estimated by ELPI is well correlated with the mass determined by filters for PM emissions higher than 0.025 g/km. This correlation is not very good at lower emissions.

An extensive research program involving the French passenger car and heavy-duty (HD) vehicles manufacturers, sponsored by ADEME and realized by IFP, aimed to characterize in terms of size and composition the particulate emitted by the different engine technologies currently or soon available. The impact of engine settings and fuel composition was also studied. Numerous information was collected in this HD study revealing that fuel composition and particularly non-conventional fuels and engine settings strongly impact the particulate concentration and size distribution. Nucleation is likely to occur when there is less adsorption matter, for instance when post-injection is used or EGR is removed. Particulate composition, particularly PAH and sulfates content, is weakly bound to the size. Mineral elements distribution depends on their origin, lubrication oil or engine wear.

Four Diesel vehicles and two gasoline ones are used to determine the repeatability of the particle number and size measurements. Two analytical techniques are used: Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer (SMPS) and Electrical Low Pressure Impactor (ELPI). The influence of technology (Euro2 and Euro3, Diesel and gasoline vehicles, Diesel Particulate Filter (DPF), Gasoline Direct Injection (GDI)) and speed on the particle number and size is presented in the case of steady speeds and the European Driving Cycle (EDC). The repeatability of these measurements is determined at the entire particle distribution. The global 1.96*Standard Deviation (SD) of the median diameter, determined by SMPS, is 8 nm. The median diameter is difficult to be determined in several cases due to the flat profiles of the emitted particles. The global 1.96*Relative Standard Deviation (RSD) of the particle number presents a U-like curve, with a minimum value (55-57%) at about 100 nm.