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Gasoline-related factors that affect low-speed pre-ignition (LSPI) include the distillation properties of gasoline, manganese (Mn), ethanol, diesel fuel, detergent for aftermarket, and iron (Fe). The combined effect of Mn with ethanol or high calcium engine oil (high-Ca oil) has not been sufficiently clarified. Therefore, appropriate countermeasures for LSPI have not yet been implemented. To clarify the effect of the gasoline properties and additives on LSPI, engine tests were conducted using gasoline with different “PM Index” values, an indicator of distillation properties, different concentrations of Mn, ethanol, diesel fuel, detergent, Fe, and high-Ca oil. The results showed that the LSPI frequency tended to increase with the PM Index, Mn up to 60 ppm, diesel fuel up to 2 vol.%, and detergent up to three times the standard amount.

TWC exposure to extreme temperature could result in irreversible damage or thermal failure. Thus, a strategy embedded in the engine control unit (ECU) called catalyst overheating protection (COP) will be activated to prevent TWC overheating. When COP is activated, the command air-fuel ratio will be enriched to cool the catalyst monolith down. Fuel enrichment has been proven a main prerequisite for ammonia formation in hot TWCs as a by-product of NOx reduction. Hence, COP events could theoretically be a source of post-catalyst ammonia from petrol vehicles, but this theory is yet to be confirmed in published literature. This paper validated this hypothesis using a self-programmed chassis-level test. The speed of the test vehicle was set to constant while the TWC temperature was raised stepwise until a COP event was activated.

The spray structure and vaporization processes of flash-boiling sprays in a constant volume chamber under a wide range of superheated conditions were experimentally investigated by a high speed imaging technique. The Engine Combustion Network’s Spray G injector was used. Four fuels including gasoline, ethanol, and gasoline-ethanol blends E30 and E50 were investigated. Spray penetration length and spray width were correlated to the degree of the superheated degree, which is the ratio of the ambient pressure to saturated vapor pressure (pa/ps). It is found that parameter pa/ps is critical in describing the spray transformation under flash-boiling conditions. Three distinct stages namely the slight flash-boiling, the transition flash-boiling, and the flare flash-boiling are identified to describe the transformation of spray structures.

To meet the strict emission regulations for diesel engines, an advanced processing device such as a Urea-SCR (selective catalytic reduction) system is used to reduce NOx emissions. The Real Driving Emissions (RDE) test, which is implemented in the European Union, will expand the range of conditions under which the engine has to operate [1], which will lead to the construction of a Urea-SCR system capable of reducing NOx emissions at lower and higher temperature conditions, and at higher space velocity conditions than existing systems. Simulations are useful in improving the performance of the urea-SCR system. However, it is necessary to construct a reliable NOx reduction model to use for system design, which covers the expanded engine operation conditions. In the urea-SCR system, the mechanism of ammonia (NH3) formation from injected aqueous urea solution is not clear. Thus, it is important to clarify this mechanism to improve the NOx reduction model.

Light-duty China-6, which is among the most stringent vehicle exhaust emission standards globally, mandates the monitoring and reporting of real driving emissions (RDE) from July, 2023. In the process of regulation promulgation and verification, more than 300 RDE tests have been performed on over 50 China-5 and China-6 certified models. This technical paper endeavors to summarize the experience of RDE practice in China, and discuss the impacts of some boundary conditions (including vehicle dynamic parameters, data processing methods, hybrid propulsion and testing altitude) on the result of RDE measurement. In general, gasoline passenger cars confront few challenges to meet the upcoming RDE NOx requirement, but some China-5 certified samples, even powered by naturally-aspirated engines may have PN issues. PN emissions from some GDI-hybrid powertrain systems also need further reduction to meet China-6 RDE requirements.

Particulate matter emissions are becoming a big issue for GDI engines as the emission regulations being more stringent. Methanol has been considered to be an important alternative fuel to reduce soot emissions. To understand the effect of methanol addition on soot and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) formation, the 2-D distributions of soot volume fraction and different size PAHs relative concentrations in methanol/gasoline laminar diffusion flames were measured by TC-LII and PLIF techniques. The effect of methanol was investigated under the conditions of the same carbon flow and the same flame height. The methanol volume fraction was set as M0/20/40/60/80. The results showed that the natural luminescent flame lift-off height and soot lift-off height increases consistently with the increasing methanol content due to the increase of outlet velocity of fuel vapor.

In the urea SCR system, urea solution is injected by injector installed in the front stage of the SCR catalyst, and NOx can be purified on the SCR catalyst by using NH3 generated by the chemical reaction of urea. NH3 is produced by thermolysis of urea and hydrolysis of isocyanic acid after evaporation of water in the urea solution. But, biuret and cyanuric acid which may cause deposit are sometimes generated by the chemical reactions without generating NH3. Spray behavior and chemical reaction of urea solution injected into the tail-pipe are complicated. The purpose of this study is to reveal the spray behavior and NH3 generation process in the tail-pipe, and to construct the model capable of predicting those accurately. In this report, the impingement spray behavior is clarified by scattered light method in high temperature flow field. Liquid film adhering to the wall and deposit generated after evaporation of water from the liquid film are photographed by the digital camera.

Urea SCR technology is the most promising technique to reduce NOx emissions from heavy duty diesel engines. 32.5wt% aqueous urea solution is widely used as ammonia storage species for the urea SCR process. The thermolysis and hydrolysis of urea produces reducing agent ammonia and reduces NOx emissions to nitrogen and water. However, the application of urea SCR technology has many challenges at low temperature conditions, such as deposits formation in the exhaust pipe, lack deNOx performance at low temperature and freezing below -12°C. For preventing deposits formation, aqueous urea solution is hardly injected into exhaust gas stream at temperature below 200°C. The aqueous urea solution used as reducing agent precursor is the main obstacle for achieving high deNOx performances at low temperature conditions. This paper presents a solid SCR technology for control NOx emissions from heavy duty diesel engines.

Soot emission, known as PM (particulate matter), is becoming a big issue for GDI engines as the emission regulations being increasingly stricter. It is found that ethanol, as an oxygenated bio-fuel, can reduce the soot emission when added to gasoline. In order to fully understand the effect of ethanol on soot reducing, the soot characteristics of ethanol/gasoline blends were studied on laminar diffusion flames. In this experiment, the blending ratio of ethanol/gasoline was set as E0/20/40/60/80. Considering the carbon content decreasing due to ethanol addition, carbon mass flow rate was remained constant. The two-dimensional distributions of soot volume fraction were measured quantitatively by using two-color laser induced incandescence technique. The results showed that ethanol is able to decrease the soot significantly, but the effect of ethanol on soot reduction is weakened with the increasing ethanol ratio.

Along with the booming expansion of private car preservation, many Chinese cities are now struggling with hazy weather and ground-level ozone contamination. Although central government has stepped up efforts to purify skies above China, counter-strategies to curb ground-level ozone is comparatively weak. By using maximum incremental reactivity (MIR) method, this paper estimated the ozone forming potential for twenty-five Euro-3 to Euro-5 passenger cars burning conventional gasoline, methanol-gasoline, ethanol-gasoline, neat methanol and compressed natural gas (CNG). The results showed that, for all the fuel tested, VOC/NOx ratios and SR values decreased with the upgrading of emission standard. Except for Euro-3 M100 and Euro-4 M85, SR values for alternative fuel were to different degrees smaller than those for gasoline. When the emission standard was shifted from Euro-4 to Euro-5, OFP values estimated for gasoline vehicle decreased.

As a probable solution to both energy and environmental crisis, methanol and methanol gasoline have been used as gasoline surrogates in several provinces of China. Most recently, the Ministry of Environmental Protection of China is drafting a special emission standard for methanol-fueled light-duty vehicles. Given the scarcity of available data, this paper evaluated regulated emissions, carbonyl compounds and particulate matter from a China-5 certificated gasoline/methanol dual-fuel vehicle over New European Driving Cycle (NEDC). The results elucidated that in context with gasoline mode, CO emitted in methanol mode decreased 11.2%, while no evident changes of THC and NOx emissions were noticed with different fueling regimes. The total carbonyls and formaldehyde have increased by 39.5% and 19.8% respectively after switching from gasoline to methanol. A remarkable decrease of 65.6% in particulate matter was observed in methanol mode.

This study proposes a method for presenting maneuver request information of accelerator pedal to a driver via the accelerator pedal itself. By applying periodic force like vibration on an accelerator pedal, information is transferred to the driver without displacing the accelerator pedal. In this study, the authors focus on a saw-tooth wave as the periodic force. When the saw-tooth-waved force is applied on the accelerator pedal, a human driver feels as if the accelerator pedal is knocked by someone periodically. In addition, information about the quantity of requested maneuver can be transferred by the amplitude of the saw-tooth wave. Based on these facts, the saw-tooth wave is modified and optimized empirically with ten human drivers so that the information of direction is transferred most reliably. In addition, the relationship between the amplitude of the saw-tooth wave and requested quantity of the pedal maneuver that the drivers feel is formulated.

NOx are the only harmful emissions of hydrogen internal combustion engine. EGR is one of the effective methods to reduce NOx. The traditional EGR is not suitable for hydrogen internal combustion engine. Therefore, the study of influence of hot EGR on hydrogen internal combustion engine is important. A 2.0L hydrogen internal combustion engine with hot EGR system model is employed to optimize the diameter and position of hot EGR based on a simulation analysis. The result shows that both of the combustion temperature and NOx increase as EGR increases due to the rise of intake temperature for low load condition, for heavy load, with the increase of EGR rate, NOx emissions decreases slightly before the mixture equivalence ratio comes to 1and then dropped significantly after the mixture equivalence ratio greater than 1. Unburned hydrogen in TWC has the effect of reducing NOx after catalysts decrease largely.

Compressed natural gas (CNG) is widely used as an alternative option in spark ignition engines because of its better fuel economy and in part cleaner emissions. To cope with the haze weather in Beijing, about 2000 gasoline/CNG dual-fuel taxis are servicing on-road. According to the government's plan, the volume of alternative fuel and pure electric vehicle will be further increased in the future. Thus, it is necessary to conduct an evaluation on the effectiveness of alternative fuel on curbing vehicular emissions. This research examined the regulated emissions and particulate matter of gasoline/CNG dual-fuel taxi over New European Driving Cycle (NEDC). Emission tests in gasoline- and CNG-fuelled, cold- and warm-start modes were done for all five taxies. Test vehicles, Hyundai Elantra, are powered by 1.6L spark-ignited engines incorporated with 5-gear manual gearboxes.

The NOx conversion efficiency of vanadium-based SCR catalyst is lower under low temperature. Utilizing an exhaust analyzer, the effects of electrically heated catalyst on the performance of vanadium-based SCR catalyst under low temperature was studied on the engine test bench. The inlet temperature of SCR catalyst without the electrically heated catalyst were in the range of 150°C∼270°C under various steady engine modes, and the NSR (Normalized Stoichiometric Ratio) was set as 0.4,0.6,0.8,1.0. The results showed that under the space velocity of 20000h−1, with the application of the electrically heated catalyst, the inlet temperature of SCR increased about 19.9°C on average and the NOx conversion efficiency improved about 8.0%. The NOx conversion efficiency increased 1.7%∼8.6% at the temperatures of 150°C∼174°C, and 1.0%∼15.9% at the temperatures of 186°C∼270°C.

Nowadays, the world is facing severe energy crisis and environment problems. Development of hydrogen fuel vehicles is one of the best ways to solve these problems. Due to the difficulties of infrastructures, such as the hydrogen transport and storage, hydrogen fuel vehicles have not been widely used yet. As a result, Hydrogen-gasoline dual-fuel vehicle is a solution as a compromise. In this paper, three way catalytic converter (TWC) was used to reduce emissions of hydrogen-gasoline dual-fuel vehicles. On wide open throttle and load characteristics, the conversion efficiency of TWC in gasoline engine was measured. Then the TWC was connected to a hydrogen internal combustion engine. After switching the hydrogen and gasoline working mode, emission data was measured. Experiment results show that the efficiency of a traditional TWC can be maintained above 85%., while it works in a hydrogen-gasoline dual-fuel alternative working mode.

Electric vehicles have become more popular and may be involved in fires due to accidents. However, characteristics of fires in electric vehicles are not yet fully understood. The electrolytic solution of lithium-battery vehicles is inflammable, so combustion characteristics and gases generated may differ from those of gasoline cars. Therefore, we conducted fire tests on lithium-ion battery vehicles and gasoline vehicles and investigated the differences in combustion characteristics and gases generated. The fire tests revealed some differences in combustion characteristics. For example, in lithium-ion battery vehicles, the battery temperature remained high after combustion of the body. However, there was almost no difference in the maximum CO concentration measured 0.5 to 1 m above the roof and 1 m from the side of the body. Furthermore, HF was not detected in either type of vehicle when measured at the same positions as for CO.

Alkali and alkaline earth metal impurities found in diesel fuels are potential poisons for diesel exhaust catalysts. Using an accelerated aging procedure, a set of production exhaust systems from a 2011 Ford F250 equipped with a 6.7L diesel engine have been aged to an equivalent of 150,000 miles of thermal aging and metal exposure. These exhaust systems included a diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC), selective catalytic reduction (SCR) catalyst, and diesel particulate filter (DPF). Four separate exhaust systems were aged, each with a different fuel: ULSD containing no measureable metals, B20 containing sodium, B20 containing potassium and B20 containing calcium. Metals levels were selected to simulate the maximum allowable levels in B100 according to the ASTM D6751 standard. Analysis of the aged catalysts included Federal Test Procedure emissions testing with the systems installed on a Ford F250 pickup, bench flow reactor testing of catalyst cores, and electron probe microanalysis (EPMA).

In-line hydrocarbon (HC) traps are not widely used to reduce HC emissions due to their limited durability, high platinum group metal (PGM) concentrations, complicated processing, and insufficient hydrocarbon (HC) retention temperatures required for efficient conversion by the three-way catalyst component. New trapping materials and system architectures were developed utilizing an engine dynamometer test equipped with dual Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometers for tracking the adsorption and desorption of various HC species during the light-off period. Parallel laboratory reactor studies were conducted which show that the new HC trap formulations extend the traditional adsorption processes (i.e., based on physic-sorption and/or adsorption at acid sites) to chemical reaction mechanisms resulting in oligomerized, dehydro-cyclization, and partial coke formation.

U.S. federal vehicle emission standards effective in 2007 require tight control of NOx and hydrocarbon emissions. For light-duty vehicles, the current standard of Tier 2 Bin 5 is about 0.07 g/mi NOx and 0.09 g/mi NMOG (non-methane organic gases) at 120,000 mi. However, the proposed future standard is 0.03 g/mi for NMOG + NOx (~SULEV30) at 150,000 mi. There is a significant improvement needed in catalyst system efficiencies for diesel vehicles to achieve the future standard, mainly during cold start. In this study, a less than 6000 lbs diesel truck equipped with an advanced urea Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) system was used to pursue lower tailpipe emissions with an emphasis on vehicle calibration and catalyst package. The calibration was tuned by optimizing exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) fuel injection and cold start strategy to generate desirable engine-out emissions balanced with reasonable temperatures.