Search Results

Recent changes in regulatory practices have brought about a need for speciated analysis of the volatile organic components of vehicle exhaust. The purpose of this study was to allow interested laboratories to participate in a Round Robin so that each could assess its speciation methodologies for hydrocarbons, alcohols, and carbonyls. The results from analysis of the liquid samples (methanol, ethanol, and DNPH-derivatives of carbonyls) were reported in SAE 941944. For gaseous hydrocarbon samples, two gasolines from the Auto/Oil Air Quality Improvement Research Program (AQIRP) were used to prepare compressed gas cylinders of “synthetic exhaust.” These samples were also doped with typical light hydrocarbon combustion components, marker compounds, and MTBE (in one of the two sets of samples). The cylinders were circulated to 16 laboratories, which included automotive and petroleum companies, contract laboratories, and regulatory agencies.

A second carbonyl round robin was conducted to enable participating laboratories doing routine analysis of carbonyls in vehicle exhaust emissions to assess their analytical capabilities. Three sets of solutions in acetonitrile containing varying number and amounts of standard DNPH-carbonyls were prepared. The parent carbonyls are known components of vehicle exhaust emissions. The samples were designed to challenge the capabilities of the participants to separate, identify and quantify all the components. The fourteen participating laboratories included automotive, contract, petroleum and regulatory organizations. All participants were able to separate and identify the C3 carbonyls; a few were not able to separate MEK from butyraldehyde and methacrolein from butyraldehyde; and many were not able to separate adequately the isomers of tolualdehyde. Inadequate separation and lack of appropriate standards resulted in a few misidentifications.

In 1992, a Round Robin was sponsored by the CRC's Emissions Analysis Round Robin Subcommittee, to provide an opportunity for automotive emissions laboratories to compare their analytical methodologies with those used in other laboratories. Compressed gas samples were provided to participants to test hydrocarbon methodologies, while liquid samples were used for alcohol and carbonyl analyses. The results of this study were published in SAE 950780 and SAE 941944. A second Round Robin study was conducted in 1995, using the same basic structure as the first study. The results of the carbonyl analyses have been published separately (SAE 971609). The purpose of this paper is to compare methods used for hydrocarbon speciation of emissions by gas chromatography. As in the 1992 study, cylinders of a synthetic exhaust were prepared by using a fuel base, and adding components that would be expected as typical combustion products.