Applicability of gasoline containing ethanol as Thailand's alternative fuel to curb toxic VOC pollutants from automobile emission

Emission rates of benzene, toluene, m-xylene, formaldehyde and acetaldehyde were measured in a fleet of 16 in-use vehicles. The test was performed on a chassis dynamometer incorporated with Bangkok Driving Cycle test mode. Three different test fuels: unleaded gasoline, gasoline blended with 10% ethanol (E10) and gasoline blended with 15% ethanol (E15) were used to determine the different compositions of exhaust emissions from various vehicles. The effects of ethanol content fuels on emissions were tested by three types of vehicles: cars with no catalytic converter installation, cars with three-way catalytic converter and cars with dual-bed catalytic converter. The test result showed wide variations in the average emission rates with different mileages, fuel types and catalytic converters (benzene: 3.33-56.48 mg/km, toluene: 8.62-124.66 mg/km, m-xylene: 2.97-51.65 mg/km, formaldehyde: 20.82-477.57 mg/km and acetaldehyde: 9.46-219.86 mg/km). There was a modest reduction in emission rate of benzene, toluene and m-xylene in cars using E10 and E15 fuels. Use of ethanol fuels, however, leads to increased formaldehyde and acetaldehyde emission rates. Our analysis revealed that alternative fuels and technologies give significant reduction in toxic VOC pollutants from automobile emission-particularly car with dual-bed catalytic converter using E10 fuel. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.