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Research Octane Number (RON) and Motor Octane Number (MON) are used to describe gasoline combustion which describe antiknock performance under different conditions. Recent literature suggests that MON is less important than RON in modern cars and a relaxation in the MON specification could improve vehicle performance. At the same time, for the same octane number change, increasing RON appears to provide more benefit to engine power and acceleration than reducing MON. Some workers have advocated the use of an octane index (OI) which incorporates both parameters instead of either RON or MON to give an indication of gasoline knock resistance. Previous Concawe work investigated the effect of RON and MON on the power and acceleration performance of two Euro 4 gasoline passenger cars during an especially-designed acceleration test cycle.

Particle emissions from vehicles are currently under close scrutiny with respect to their contribution to ambient air quality relative to other sources. Small particles, less than 10 μm, referred to as PM10, have been linked to various health issues. In this study, tests have been performed on European diesel light duty vehicles using a range of production diesel fuels. Tests were also performed on two gasoline passenger cars for comparison. Measurements were made of exhaust particle size distribution and number, as well as mass emissions using the legislated filter paper method. The results showed that most of the particles emitted were very small, with median size of the order 100 nanometres (nm). The median particle size was insensitive to changes in fuel, vehicle or operating condition. Measurements of particle number broadly correlated with particle mass emissions, and ranked fuels and vehicle types in the same order.