HPLC analysis of aldehydes in automobile exhaust gas: Comparison of exhaust odor and irritation in different types of gasoline and diesel engines

This study investigated high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to identify and measure aldehydes from automobile exhaust gas. Four aldehydes: formaldehyde (HCHO), acetaldehyde (CH3CHO), acrolein (H2CCHCHO) and propionaldehyde (CH3CH2CHO) and one ketone, acetone (CH3)2CO are separated. The other higher aldehydes in exhaust gas are very small and cannot be separated. A new method of gas sampling, hereafter called bag sampling in HPLC is introduced instead of the trapping gas sampling method. The superiority of the bag sampling method is its transient gas checking capability.In the second part of this study, HPLC results are applied to compare exhaust odor and irritation of exhaust gases in different types of gasoline and diesel engines. Exhaust odor, irritation and aldehydes are found worst in direct injection (DI) diesel engines and best in some good multi-point injection (MPI) gasoline and direct injection gasoline (DIG) engines. Indirect injection (IDI) diesel engines showed odor, irritation and aldehydes in between the levels of MPI gasoline, DIG and DI diesel engines.