Evaluation of gas emissions in light gasoline vehicles in height conditions. Case study Quito, Ecuador

Abstract

At present it is very important to estimate the contribution of the vehicle fleet in the inventories of polluting emissions for the city of Quito due to its geographical characteristic that places it at a height above 2810 m. In this research, the emission factors en route of three fuels used mainly by light vehicles in Ecuador are evaluated; Super gasoline with 93 octane; Extra gasoline with 87 octanes; and Ecopaís gasoline (Extra gasoline and 5% bioethanol). A Chevrolet Aveo 1.6 L vehicle was used, instrumented with an on-board system to obtain information on pollutant emissions and total fuel consumption in a pre-determined route of 12 km, at an average speed of 40 km/h. The simplified combustion model was used to develop a mass balance with respect to the amount of carbon present in the fuel, and thus obtain the emission factors ( ) in grams of pollutant per kilometer traveled. The results obtained are: Extra gasoline: CO 3.194 g/km, HC 0.060 g/km and NOx 0.142 g/km; Gasoline 92 Super: CO 4.770 g/km, HC 0.099 g/km and NOx 0.281 g/km; and Ecopaís gasoline: CO 5.939 g/km, HC 0.082 g/km and NOx 0.279 g/km.