Investigating the impacts of retrofitted CNG vehicles on air pollutant emissions in Tehran

ABSTRACT

The present study was conducted to investigate the impacts of retrofitted CNG vehicles on air pollutant emissions in Tehran over a 20 years period using available statistical data, precise automobile tests, data analysis, and LEAP Software. The obtained results revealed an increase in air pollutant emissions including CO [equal to 1030.77 thousand tons], NO[x] [equal to 1030.77 thousand tons], THC [269.02 thousand tons] and CO[2] [equal to 38.43 thousand tons] resulting from utilizing retrofitted CNG vehicles within the studied period. Considering the obtained results, if the current trend of producing retrofitted CNG vehicles continues, a total cost of 435 million USD will impose on the environment, annually. According to the emission test results, by implementing retrofitted CNG vehicles policy, a higher emission rate of dual-fuel vehicles will be expected compared to their petrol-fueled counterparts. This is due to poor quality of the policy implementation such the use of substandard conversion kits and old technology of retrofit technologies