Comparison of PM emissions from a gasoline direct injected (GDI) vehicle and a port fuel injected (PFI) vehicle measured by electrical low pressure impactor (ELPI) with two fuels: Gasoline and M15 methanol gasoline

Two Euro 4 gasoline passenger vehicles (one gasoline direct injected vehicle and one port fuel injected vehicle) were tested over the cold start New European Driving Cycle (NEDC). Each vehicle was respectively fueled with gasoline and M15 methanol gasoline. Particle number concentrations were measured by the electrical low pressure impactor (ELPI). Particle masses were measured by gravimetric method and estimated from the number distributions using two density distributions (one is constant with the particle size and one is power law related with the size). The first 7 stages of ELPI were used for estimation. The results show that for each vehicle, PM masses measured by gravimetric method, the total PM numbers measured by ELPI and estimated PM masses for M15 are lower than those for gasoline. For each kind of fuel, PM masses by two methods and total PM numbers from the GDI vehicle are higher than those from the PFI one. PM number distribution curves of the four vehicle/fuel combinations are similar. All decline gradually and the maximum number of each curve occurs in the first stage. More than 99.9% numbers locate in the first 8 stages of which diameters are less than 1 μm. PM number emissions correlate well with the acceleration of the two vehicles. The estimated particle masses were much lower than the gravimetric measurements.

► PM masses and numbers from GDI and PFI cars with two kinds of fuels were studied.
► Compared with gasoline, PM masses and numbers with M15 decreased on each car.
► Compared with GDI car, PM masses and numbers from PFI car decreased on each fuel.
► More than 99.9% numbers locate in the first 8 stages of ELPI.
► PM number emissions correlate well with the acceleration of the two vehicles.