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In India, continuous efforts are being made to upgrade fuel quality and vehicle technology for meeting European emission norms. However, these efforts make a very little impact in improving the air quality due to exponential increase in the vehicle population and the poor quality of the Indian roads. The long-term strategy for meeting the requirement of huge road infrastructure and traffic management systems needs immediate attention. Studies have been conducted worldwide to study the effect of fuel quality and vehicle technology on fuel economy and emissions. However, the contribution of road quality, traffic management and driver training on reduction of vehicular emissions and improvement of fuel economy under Indian road conditions is still not established.

In India, two and three-wheelers constitute about 70% of the total in-use vehicle population and consume about 2/3rd of the total gasoline, rest of the gasoline being consumed primarily by the passenger cars. This paper presents the findings of an experimental study carried out on in-use gasoline vehicles, including two and three- wheelers and passenger cars. The gasoline fuels used for the study were equivalent to Euro-II, Euro-III and Euro-IV fuel quality specifications. The study analyzes the effect of improving the gasoline fuel quality on exhaust emissions from in-use vehicles.

An experimental study was conducted on in-use and new, Indian two-wheelers to study the effect of gasoline composition (olefins, aromatics and benzene) on exhaust mass emissions. Exhaust emissions of benzene were also measured. The study was conducted on six makes of new and in-use, two-wheelers consisting of popular 2-stroke and 4-stroke, mopeds, scooters and motorcycles. Three test fuels, a high olefin gasoline, a high aromatic gasoline and a Euro-III equivalent gasoline were used for the study. High olefin test gasoline contained 26.5% olefins, 10.3% aromatics and 0.3% benzene. High aromatic test gasoline contained 0.9% olefins, 61.9% aromatics and 1.5% benzene. Euro-III test gasoline contained 15.9% olefins, 37.4% aromatics and 0.9% benzene. Intake system deposit study was also conducted on 4-stroke motorcycles and two-stroke scooters having separate lubrication, using two fuels, i.e. high olefin gasoline and Euro-III gasoline, with and without the use of multi-function additives.