EXHAUST AND EVAPORATIVE EMISSIONS FROM GASOHOL-TYPE FUELS

摘要

An experimental study was conducted at the U.S. Department of Energy's Bartlesville (Okla.) Energy Technology Center in cooperation with the Environmental Protection Agency to determine the characteristics of gasohol-type fuels with respect to exhaust and evaporative emissions. Five fuels, two gasolines’ (reference and commercial unleaded) and three gasohol (90 pet gasoline/10 pet ethanol) were tested in a fleet of ten late-model automobiles. Six were equipped with oxidation catalysts and four were equipped with three-way catalysts.nThe results obtained from the 1978 Federal test procedure indicate that the addition of ethanol to the base gasoline, whether it is a reference fuel (Indolence) or a commercial fuel, has measurable effects on exhaust and evaporative emissions. However, on the average, the magnitude of these effects was generally within the 1978 emission standards established by the Environmental Protection Agency. More specifically, the addition of ethanol, in the case of vehicles with oxidation catalysts, decreased hydrocarbons by an average of 27 pet, decreased carbon monoxide by 43 pet, decreased volumetric fuel economies by 3 pet and increased oxides of nitrogen by 16 pet. Evaporative emissions were increased by 40 pet.