Carbonyl emissions in diesel and biodiesel exhaust

With the use of biodiesel in clear growth, it is important to quantify any potential emission benefits or liabilities of this fuel. Several researches are available concerning the regulated emissions of biodiesel/diesel blends, but there is a lack of information about non-regulated emissions. In a previous paper [Corrêa, S.M., Arbilla, G., 2006. Emissões de formaldeído e acetaldeído de misturas biodiesel/diesel. Periódico Tchê Química, 3, 54–68], the emissions of aromatic hydrocarbons were reported. In this work, seven carbonyl emissions (formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, acrolein, acetone, propionaldehyde, butyraldehyde, and benzaldehyde) were evaluated by a heavy-duty diesel engine fueled with pure diesel (D) and biodiesel blends (v/v) of 2% (B2), 5% (B5), 10% (B10), and 20% (B20). The tests were conducted using a six cylinder heavy-duty engine, typical of the Brazilian fleet of urban buses, in a steady-state condition under 1000, 1500, and 2000 rpm. The exhaust gases were diluted nearly 20 times and the carbonyls were sampled with SiO2–C18 cartridges, impregnated with acid solution of 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine. The chemical analyses were performed by high performance liquid chromatography using UV detection. Using average values for the three modes of operation (1000, 1500, and 2000 rpm) benzaldehyde showed a reduction on the emission (−3.4% for B2, −5.3% for B5, −5.7% for B10, and −6.9% for B20) and all other carbonyls showed a significative increase: 2.6, 7.3, 17.6, and 35.5% for formaldehyde; 1.4, 2.5, 5.4, and 15.8% for acetaldehyde; 2.1, 5.4, 11.1, and 22.0% for acrolein+acetone; 0.8, 2.7, 4.6, and 10.0% for propionaldehyde; 3.3, 7.8, 16.0, and 26.0% for butyraldehyde.