Emissions Patterns of Diesel-Powered Passenger Cars

The gaseous and particulate emissions from a light-duty diesel powered passenger car were measured by a variety of chemical analysis techniques for three different fuels, typical No. 1 and No. 2 commercial diesel fuels and the Federal Register No. 2-D smoke test fuel. Hydrocarbon emissions were found to be inversely related to fuel molecular weight. The NO₂/NO ratio was found to be much higher than for gasoline engines approaching 0.3 at low load. Particulate emissions were approximately 0.3 grams/mile for all fuels and driving cycles tested. Sulfate emissions were high, approaching that of some catalyst cars. Sulfate emissions decreased with decreasing fuel sulfur and increased by a factor of two in highway driving over urban driving. The potential pollution problems with such cars are worthy of further study.