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A vehicle test program was conducted at the Environmental Protection Agency's National Vehicle and Fuel Emissions Laboratory to provide data on the relationship between fuel properties and exhaust emissions of nonmethane hydrocarbons (NMHC), NOx, and CO. This study, Phase III, is the third in a series of programs sponsored by the Agency. This Phase III program consisted of 19 light-duty high and normal emitting vehicles tested on 10 different fuels. The properties for each test fuel were specified in order to examine seven separate fuel effects on exhaust emissions; interactions between olefins and volatility, interactions between olefins and sulfur, very high and very low levels of sulfur, low levels of aromatics, low volatility, and low levels of olefins. For all of the fuels tested, the normal emitter vehicles produced greater percentage reductions than the high emitters. The data in this work showed lower NMHC emission reduction than predicted by the complex model.

A significant source of volatile organic compounds occurs from fuel evaporation during operation of gasoline-fueled vehicles. This source, known as running loss emissions, has been modelled in the past using the Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) as the only measure of fuel volatility. A correlation is proposed which relates running loss emissions to measures of fuel volatility at temperatures experienced in use. Ambient temperature, fuel volatility, and, in some cases, drive duration are incorporated into a single correlation. One experimental program shows fuel differences other than RVP have an effect on emissions. Another program is used to estimate in-use running loss emissions. Finally, the in-use emissions are estimated by accounting for ambient temperature, drive duration, and hourly travel fraction.