Impact of using fishing boat fuel with high poly aromatic content on the emission of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from the diesel engine

Because of the fishery subsidy policy, the fishing boat fuel oil (FBFO) exemption from commodity taxes, business taxes and air pollution control fees, resulted in the price of FBFO was ∼50% lower than premium diesel fuel (PDF) in Taiwan. It is estimated that ∼650,000 kL FBFO was illegally used by traveling diesel-vehicles (TDVs) with a heavy-duty diesel engine (HDDE), which accounted for ∼16.3% of the total diesel fuel consumed by TDVs. In this study, sulfur, poly aromatic and total-aromatic contents in both FBFO and PDF were measured and compared. Exhaust emissions of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and their carcinogenic potencies (BaPeq) from a HDDE under transient cycle testing for both FBFO and PDF were compared and discussed. Finally, the impact caused by the illegal use of FBFO on the air quality was examined. Results show that the mean sulfur-, poly aromatic and aromatic-contents in FBFO were 43.0, 3.89 and 1.04 times higher than that of PDF, respectively. Emission factors of total-PAHs and total-BaPeq obtained by utilizing FBFO were 51.5 and 0.235 mg L−1-Fuel, which were 3.41 and 5.82 times in magnitude higher than obtained by PDF, respectively. The estimated annual emissions of total-PAHs and total-BaPeq to the ambient environment due to the illegally used FBFO were 23.6 and 0.126 metric tons, respectively, which resulted in a 17.9% and a 25.0% increment of annual emissions from all mobile sources, respectively. These results indicated that the FBFO used illegally by TDVs had a significant impact on PAH emissions to the ambient environment.