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Particulate matter (PM) emission of non-road diesel engines is more and more stringently restricted by US, EU, Japan, etc. In order to achieve these emission regulations, diesel particulate filter (DPF) system is applied. However DPF system requires extra fuel consumption in order to burn accumulated particles. Furthermore, since it is difficult to install large DPF systems in limited packaging space of non-road applications, compact DPF system is desirable. Reducing soot emission with engine technology is effective for reducing PM emission, which results in reducing extra fuel consumption and downsizing or removing of DPF system. Soot emission level mainly depends on excess air ratio (EAR), and can be reduced by keeping EAR high (lean combustion). However, lean combustion under the limited amount of air and maximum in-cylinder pressure requires decrease in fuel injection quantity, and yields decrease in engine power.

Current regulations stipulate acceptable levels of particulate emissions based on the mass collected on filters obtained by sampling in diluted exhaust. Although precise, this gives us only aggregated information. If in addition to the mass based measurements, detailed chemical analysis of the particulate matter (PM) is performed, additional subtle information about the combustion process can be revealed. This paper reports the results of detailed chemical analysis of trace metal in the PM emitted from a single cylinder heavy-duty diesel engine. The trace metal concentrations are used as an indicator of oil consumption. Two techniques were used to make the trace metal concentration measurements. PM was captured on filters and trace metals were quantified with an Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometer (ICPMS), and also an Aerosol Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometer (ATOFMS) was used to perform particle size and composition measurements in real time.