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Gasoline direct injection (GDI) vehicles are considered to be one of the solutions for engine optimization with regard to fuel consumption. This combustion system potentially provides, depending on the duty cycle, an improvement in fuel economy of 5 - 10%. In Brazil, mainly due to new requirements to reduce consumption imposed by the Inovar Auto automotive regime, this technology is becoming more popular and in 2013 the first flexfuel GDI vehicle was produced. However, GDI engines tend to produce more particulate matter compared to conventional engines. The present article is based on the study of particulate matter emissions from a GDI vehicle tested according to the FTP75 (Federal Test Procedure 75) and HWFET (Highway Fuel Economy Test) cycles. The vehicle was fuelled with gasoline (A22) and with hydrated ethanol (HER). It was observed that the particulate matter formed after the combustion process is directly related to the fuel properties.

In 2005, it was published a paper in Brazil reporting significant values of aldehydes emissions for some old Brazilian diesel SUVs (Sport Utility Vehicles). In 2008, PETROBRAS (Brazilian Oil Company) together with LACTEC (Institute of Technology for Development) decided to study methods for measuring aldehydes from diesel vehicles, including SUVs and heavy-duty engines. In 2008, National Environmental Council (CONAMA) published legislation 408/08, establishing that IBAMA (Brazilian National Environmental Institute) must provide a procedure for aldehyde measurement at the end of December 2010 and that engine manufacturers must report typical aldehyde emission values of diesel vehicles before the end of December 2012. A technical group was created in 2009 by the Brazilian Automotive Engineering Association (AEA) to discuss and elaborate a new method for aldehyde measurement in diesel vehicles and heavy-duty engines. The new procedure must be published before the end of 2010.