Effects of fresh lubricant oils on particle emissions emitted by a modern gasoline direct injection passenger car.

Particle emissions from a modern turbocharged gasoline direct injection passenger car equipped with a three-way catalyst and an exhaust gas recirculation system were studied while the vehicle was running on low-sulfur gasoline and, consecutively, with five different lubrication oils. Exhaust particle number concentration, size distribution, and volatility were determined both at laboratory and on-road conditions. The results indicated that the choice of lubricant affected particle emissions both during the cold start and warm driving cycles. However, the contribution of engine oil depended on driving conditions being higher during acceleration and steady state driving than during deceleration. The highest emission factors were found with two oils that had the highest metal content. The results indicate that a 10% decrease in the Zn content of engine oils is linked with an 11-13% decrease to the nonvolatile particle number emissions in steady driving conditions and a 5% decrease over the New European Driving Cycle. The effect of lubricant on volatile particles was even higher, on the order of 20%.

Cell toxicity and oxidative potential of engine exhaust particles: impact of using particulate filter or biodiesel fuel blend.

The link between emissions of vehicular particulate matter (PM) and adverse health effects is well established. However, the influence of new emission control technologies and fuel types on both PM emissions and health effects has been less well investigated. We examined the health impact of PM emissions from two vehicles equipped with or without a diesel particulate filter (DPF). Both vehicles were powered either with diesel (B0) or a 50% v/v biodiesel blend (B50). The DPF effectively decreased PM mass emissions (∼85%), whereas the fuel B50 without DPF lead to less reduction (∼50%). The hazard of PM per unit distance driven was decreased for the DPF-equipped vehicle as indicated by a reduced cytotoxicity, oxidative, and pro-inflammatory potential. This was not evident and even led to an increase when the hazard was expressed on a per unit of mass basis. In general, the PM oxidative potential was similar or reduced for the B50 compared to the B0 powered vehicle. However, the use of B50 resulted in increased cytotoxicity and IL-6 release in BEAS-2B cells irrespective of the expression metric. This study shows that PM mass reduction achieved by the use of B50 will not necessarily decrease the hazard of engine emissions, while the application of a DPF has a beneficial effect on both PM mass emission and PM hazard.

Monitoring the inflammatory potential of exhaust particles from passenger cars in mice.

This study presents different research techniques linked together to improve our understanding of the particulate matter (PM) impacts on health. PM samples from the exhaust of different vehicles were collected by a versatile aerosol concentration enrichment system (VACES). Waterborne PM samples were collected with this technique, thus retaining the original physicochemical characteristics of aerosol particles. PM samples originated from a gasoline Euro 3 car and two diesel cars complying with the Euro 2 and Euro 4 standards, respectively. The Euro 2 diesel car operated consecutively on fossil diesel and biodiesel. The Euro 4 car was also retrofitted with a diesel particle filter. In total, five vehicle configurations and an equal number of samples were examined. Each sample was intratracheally instilled to 10 mice at two different dose levels (50 and 100 µL). The mice were analyzed 24 h after instillation for acute lung inflammation by bronchoalveolar lavage and also for hematological changes. Results show that a moderate but still significant inflammatory response is induced by PM samples, depending on the vehicle. Several organic and inorganic species, including benz(a)anthracene, chrysene, Mn, Fe, Cu, and heavy polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), as well as the reactive oxygen species content of the PM suspensions are correlated to the observed responses. The study develops conceptual dose-response functions for the different vehicle configurations. These demonstrate that inflammatory response is not directly proportional to the mass dose level of the administered PM and that the relative toxicity potency depends on the dosage level.

Effects of low concentration biodiesel blend application on modern passenger cars. Part 1: feedstock impact on regulated pollutants, fuel consumption and particle emissions.

Five biodiesels from different feedstocks (rapeseed, soy, sunflower, palm, and used fried oils) blended with diesel at 10% vol. ratio (B10), were tested on a Euro 3 common-rail passenger car. Limited effects (-2% to +4%) were observed on CO(2) emissions. CO and HC emissions increased between 10% and 25% on average, except at high speed - high power where emissions were too low to draw conclusions. NOx emissions increased by up to 20% for two out of the five blends, decreased by up to 15% for two other blends, and remained unchanged for one blend. Particulate matter (PM) was reduced for all blends by up to 25% and the reductions were positively correlated with the extent of biodiesel saturation. PM reductions are associated with consistent reductions in non-volatile particle number. A variable behaviour in particle number is observed when volatile particles are also accounted.

Chemical characteristics and oxidative potential of particulate matter emissions from gasoline, diesel, and biodiesel cars.

Three light-duty vehicles in five different configurations [a Honda Accord operating with diesel with a closed-coupled oxidation catalyst and an underfloor catalyst replaced in some tests with a diesel particle filter (DPF), a Toyota Corolla operating with gasoline, and a VW Golf alternatively operating with petrodiesel or biodiesel] were tested in a dynamometer facility to develop an improved understanding of the factors affecting the toxicity of particulate exhaust emissions. The vehicles were tested using a variety of real-world driving cycles, more than the certification test (New European Driving Cycle). Particle samples were collected and analyzed for elemental and organic carbon (EC and OC, respectively), water soluble and water insoluble organic carbon (WSOC and WISOC, respectively), and inorganic ions, and the emission rates (mg/km) for each vehicle/configuration were determined. A dithiothreitol (DTT) assay was used to assess the oxidative potential of the particulate matter (PM) samples. The DPF-equipped diesel and gasoline vehicles were characterized by the lowest overall PM mass emissions, while the diesel and biodiesel cars produced the most potent exhaust in terms of oxidative activity. When the DPF was fitted on the Honda Accord diesel vehicle, the mass emission rates and distance-based oxidative potential were both decreased by 98%, compared to the original configuration. Correlation analysis showed that the DTT consumption rate was highly associated with WSOC, WISOC, and OC (R = 0.98, 0.93, and 0.94, respectively), consistent with previous findings.