Assessment of In-Use NOx Emissions from Heavy-Duty Diesel Vehicles Equipped with Selective Catalytic Reduction Systems.

This work evaluated the nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions of 277 heavy-duty diesel vehicles (HDDVs) from three portable emission measurement system testing programs. HDDVs in these programs were properly maintained before emission testing, so the malfunction indicator lamp (MIL) was not illuminated. NOx emissions of some HDDVs were significantly higher than the certification standard even during hot operations where exhaust temperature was ideal for selective catalytic reduction to reduce NOx. For engines certified to the 0.20 g/bhp-hr NOx standard, hot operation NOx emissions increased with engine age at 0.081 ± 0.016 g/bhp-hr per year. The correlation between emissions and mileage was weak because six trucks showed extraordinarily high apparent emission increase rates reaching several multiples of the standard within the first 15,000 miles of operation. The overall annual increase in NOx emissions for the HDDVs in this study was two-thirds of what was observed in real-world emissions for HDDVs at the Caldecott Tunnel over the past decade. The vehicles at the Caldecott Tunnel would include those without proper maintenance, and the inclusion of these vehicles possibly explains the difference in the rate of emission increase. The results suggest that HDDVs need robust strategies to better control in-use NOx emissions.

Evaluation of heavy-duty vehicle emission controls with a decade of California real-world observations.

Over the past decade, efforts to reduce emissions of particulate matter (PM) and oxides of nitrogen (NO + NO2, or NOx) from heavy-duty diesel vehicles (HDDVs) have led to the widespread adoption of both Diesel Particulate Filters (DPFs) to control PM and Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) to control NOx. We evaluated the performance of DPFs and SCR with 13,327 real-world fuel-based Black Carbon (BC) and NOx emission factors from 9,167 unique heavy-duty vehicles (primarily HDDVs) measured at four sites in California (two ports, two highways) from 2011 to 2018. BC emission factors have decreased by 90% during the past decade. At the same time, BC distributions have become increasingly skewed toward "high-emitters" - e.g., the portion of the HDDV fleet responsible for half of all BC emissions has decreased from ~16% to ~3%. NOx emission factors have also decreased over the past decade, but by only 31%. They remain roughly five times greater than in-use thresholds.We examined changes in BC and NOx emissions with engine age. BC emissions from DPF-only trucks decreased slightly but insignificantly, by 6 ± 15 mg/kg fuel per year, while for DPF+SCR trucks they increased by 5 ± 3. These changes are less than 5% of in-use thresholds. The annual increase in NOx emissions with age was much greater: 1.44 ± 0.28 g/kg for older SCR trucks without on-board diagnostic (OBD) capabilities and 0.48 ± 0.35 for newer trucks with OBD, roughly 20- 50% of in-use thresholds. Paired t-tests on the over 600 vehicles that were observed in multiple campaigns were consistent with these results. Observed changes in BC emissions with age were best fit with a "gross emitter" model assuming an annual DPF failure rate of 0.83 ± 0.01% for DPF-only trucks and 0.56 ± 0.01% for DPF+SCR trucks.Implications: These observations of real-world HDV emission factors have several major implications for regulatory efforts to reduce them. The increasing importance of a relatively small number of high BC emitters suggests that widespread sampling of the on-road fleet will be necessary to identify these vehicles. On the other hand, the much more ubiquitous deterioration in NOx control measures may be better addressed by incorporating on-board diagnostic systems, with telematic data transfer when possible, into inspection and maintenance programs. These NOx observations also highlight the need for strengthening heavy-duty SCR durability demonstration requirements.

Real-time particulate emissions rates from active and passive heavy-duty diesel particulate filter regeneration.

Periodic regeneration is required to clean the diesel particulate filter (DPF) of heavy-duty diesel vehicle. In this study we analyze real-time particulate matter (PM) mass, particle number, and black carbon emissions during steady state driving active and passive diesel particulate filter (DPF) regenerations on a heavy-duty chassis dynamometer. Regeneration PM emissions were dominated by particles with count median diameter<100nm, with the majority <50nm. Results indicate that vehicle activity during DPF loading significantly affects regeneration particulate emissions. Average PM emission rates (gPM/h) from the 2010 MY vehicle were higher than the 2007 MY vehicle during all regeneration conditions in this study. Sequential forced-active regenerations resulted in reduced particulate mass emissions, but not in reduced particle number emissions, suggesting incomplete stored PM removal or effects of after-treatment fuel injection. Black carbon emission factors (EFBC) were 3.4 and 21 times larger during driving-active regeneration than during a 50 mph steady state cruise with a recently regenerated DPF for the 2007 and 2010 MY vehicle, respectively. Real-time PM emissions rates were lower during passive regeneration of the 2010 MY DPF, suggesting more modern passive regeneration technologies reduce total on-road particulate and ultrafine particulate emissions.

Emissions During and Real-world Frequency of Heavy-duty Diesel Particulate Filter Regeneration.

Recent tightening of particulate matter (PM) emission standards for heavy-duty engines has spurred the widespread adoption of diesel particulate filters (DPFs), which need to be regenerated periodically to remove trapped PM. The total impact of DPFs therefore depends not only on their filtering efficiency during normal operation, but also on the emissions during and the frequency of regeneration events. We performed active (parked and driving) and passive regenerations on two heavy-duty diesel vehicles (HDDVs), and report the chemical composition of emissions during these events, as well as the efficiency with which trapped PM is converted to gas-phase products. We also collected activity data from 85 HDDVs to determine how often regeneration occurs during real-world operation. PM emitted during regeneration ranged from 0.2 to 16.3 g, and the average time and distance between real-world active regenerations was 28.0 h and 599 miles. These results indicate that regeneration of real-world DPFs does not substantially offset the reduction of PM by DPFs during normal operation. The broad ranges of regeneration frequency per truck (3-100 h and 23-4078 miles) underscore the challenges in designing engines and associated aftertreatments that reduce emissions for all real-world duty cycles.

In-Use NOx Emissions from Diesel and Liquefied Natural Gas Refuse Trucks Equipped with SCR and TWC, Respectively.

The California Air Resources Board (ARB) and the City of Sacramento undertook this study to characterize the in-use emissions from model year (MY) 2010 or newer diesel, liquefied natural gas (LNG), and hydraulic hybrid diesel engines during real-world refuse truck operation. Emissions from five trucks, two diesels equipped with selective catalytic reduction (SCR), two LNG's equipped with three-way catalyst (TWC), and one hydraulic hybrid diesel equipped with SCR, were measured using a portable emissions measurement system (PEMS) in the Sacramento area. Results showed that the brake-specific NOx emissions for the LNG trucks equipped with the TWC catalyst were lowest of all the technologies tested. Results also showed that the brake specific NOx emissions from the conventional diesel engines were significantly higher despite the exhaust temperature being high enough for proper SCR function. Like diesel engines, the brake specific NOx emissions from the hydraulic hybrid diesel also exceeded certification although this can be explained on the basis of the temperature profile. Future studies are warranted to establish whether the below average SCR performance observed in this study is a systemic issue or is it a problem specifically observed during this work.

Daily trends and source apportionment of ultrafine particulate mass (PM0.1) over an annual cycle in a typical California city.

Toxicology studies indicate that inhalation of ultrafine particles (Dp < 0.1 µm) causes adverse health effects, presumably due to their large surface area-to-volume ratio that can drive heterogeneous reactions. Epidemiological associations between ultrafine particles and health effects, however, have been difficult to identify due to the lack of appropriate long-term monitoring and exposure data. The majority of the existing ultrafine particle epidemiology studies are based on exposure to particle number, although an independent analysis suggests that ultrafine particle mass (PM0.1) correlates better with particle surface area. More information is needed to characterize PM0.1 exposure to fully evaluate the health effects of ultrafine particles using epidemiology. The present study summarizes 1 year of daily PM0.1 chemistry and source apportionment at Sacramento, CA, USA. Positive matrix factorization (PMF) was used to resolve PM0.1 source contributions from old-technology diesel engines, residential wood burning, rail, regional traffic, and brake wear/road dust. Diesel PM0.1 and total PM0.1 concentrations were reduced by 97 and 26%, respectively, as a result of the adoption of cleaner diesel technology. The strong linear correlation between PM0.1 and particle surface area in central California suggests that the adoption of clean diesel engines reduced particle surface area by similar amounts. PM0.1 sulfate reduction occurred as a result of reduced primary particle surface area available for sulfate condensation. The current study demonstrates the capability of measuring PM0.1 source contributions over a 12 month period and identifies the extended benefits of emissions reduction efforts for diesel engines on ambient concentrations of primary and secondary PM0.1.

Heterogeneous OH oxidation of motor oil particles causes selective depletion of branched and less cyclic hydrocarbons.

Motor oil serves as a useful model system for atmospheric oxidation of hydrocarbon mixtures typical of anthropogenic atmospheric particulate matter, but its complexity often prevents comprehensive chemical speciation. In this work we fully characterize this formerly "unresolved complex mixture" at the molecular level using recently developed soft ionization gas chromatography techniques. Nucleated motor oil particles are oxidized in a flow tube reactor to investigate the relative reaction rates of observed hydrocarbon classes: alkanes, cycloalkanes, bicycloalkanes, tricycloalkanes, and steranes. Oxidation of hydrocarbons in a complex aerosol is found to be efficient, with approximately three-quarters (0.72 ± 0.06) of OH collisions yielding a reaction. Reaction rates of individual hydrocarbons are structurally dependent: compared to normal alkanes, reaction rates increased by 20-50% with branching, while rates decreased ∼20% per nonaromatic ring present. These differences in rates are expected to alter particle composition as a function of oxidation, with depletion of branched and enrichment of cyclic hydrocarbons. Due to this expected shift toward ring-opening reactions heterogeneous oxidation of the unreacted hydrocarbon mixture is less likely to proceed through fragmentation pathways in more oxidized particles. Based on the observed oxidation-induced changes in composition, isomer-resolved analysis has potential utility for determining the photochemical age of atmospheric particulate matter with respect to heterogeneous oxidation.