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Gasoline soot tendency has been extensively studied in last five years. Many tools has been developed to provide indications of a fuel’s sooting tendency. While some methods still have room for improvement, the tools can be used to qualitatively assess the fuel quality in markets. This paper will review the most recently developed methods, with good correlation agreement to vehicle particular emission tendency, that could be used to give indication of the sooting tendency of the gasoline range fuels, and last five years market trend as indexed by those tools. In addition, the paper will review and propose improvement of the methods on assessment of a gasoline range fuel’s sooting tendency. Areas around the globe where market gasoline range fuels are of concern will be highlighted, in coordination with the new emissions regulations.

The impact of gasoline composition on vehicle particulate emissions response has been widely investigated and documented. Correlation equations between fuel composition and particulate emissions have also been documented, e.g. Particulate Matter Index (PMI) and Particulate Evaluation Index (PEI). Vehicle PM/PN emissions correlate very well with these indices. In a previous paper, global assessment with PEI on fuel sooting tendency was presented [1]. This paper will continue the previous theme by the authors, and cover China gasoline in more detail. With air pollution an increasing concern, along with more stringent emission requirements in China, both OEMs and oil industries are facing new challenges. Emissions controls require a systematic approach on both fuels and vehicles. Chinese production vehicle particulate emissions for a range of PEI fuels are also presented.