Pollutant emissions from New European Driving Cycle with ethanol and butanol diesel blends

•The effect of alcohol blends on pollutant emissions under NEDC has been studied.•Specific pollutant emissions have been determined under both urban and extraurban conditions.•Potencial of alcohol blends has been evaluated through PM-(NOx+THC) trade off.

In this study, regulated gaseous emissions, smoke opacity and particle concentration derived from diesel fuel and two blends with alcohols (10% of ethanol and 16% of butanol) have been studied. A turbocharged, direct injection (DI), diesel engine equipped with common rail, injection system and EGR strategy was tested in test bench with road load simulation (RLS) during the New European Driving Cycle (NEDC). The tests were carried out always measuring upstream of the diesel particle filter (DPF). Results show slight increases in NOx and THC emissions with alcohol blends whereas CO emissions were reduced with these fuels. Particle mass (PM) was estimated from both the smoke opacity and particle size distributions. In both cases, important benefits are observed with alcohol blends.