Characterization and prediction of tailpipe ammonia emissions from in-use China 5/6 light-duty gasoline vehicles

Highlights

● Rich combustion strategy in cold-start period caused more NH₃ emission.

● NH₃ emitting events were tightly related to start and stop conditions.

● NH₃ emissions were regulated by the catalytic temperature in TWC.

● NH₃ EFs strongly correlated with combustion efficiency, engine and vehicle speeds.

● Three prediction methods were established to reproduce real-world NH₃ emissions.

Abstract

On-road tailpipe ammonia (NH₃) emissions contribute to urban secondary organic aerosol formation and have direct or indirect adverse impacts on the environment and human health. To understand the tailpipe NH₃ emission characteristics, we performed comprehensive chassis dynamometer measurements of NH₃ emission from two China 5 and two China 6 light-duty gasoline vehicles (LDGVs) equipped with three-way catalytic converters (TWCs). The results showed that the distance-based emission factors (EFs) were 12.72 ± 2.68 and 3.18 ± 1.37 mg/km for China 5 and China 6 LDGVs, respectively. Upgrades in emission standards were associated with a reduction in tailpipe NH₃ emission. In addition, high NH₃ EFs were observed during the engine warm-up period in cold-start cases owing to the intensive emissions of incomplete combustion products and suitable catalytic temperature in the TWCs. Notably, based on the instantaneous NH₃ emission rate, distinct NH₃–emitting events were detected under high/extra high velocity or rapid acceleration. Furthermore, NH₃ emission rates correlated well with engine speed, vehicle specific power, and modified combustion efficiency, which were more easily accessible. These strong correlations were applied to reproduce NH₃ emissions from China 5/6 LDGVs. The predicted NH₃ EFs under different dynamometer and real-world cycles agreed well with existing measurement and prediction results, revealing that the NH₃ EFs of LDGVs in urban routes were within 8.55–11.62 mg/km. The results presented here substantially contribute to improving the NH₃ emission inventory for LDGVs and predicting on-road NH₃ emissions in China.

Graphical abstract

Keywords

NH₃ instantaneous emissions / Catalytic temperature / Vehicle specific power / Combustion efficiency / Emission prediction

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Nos. 51978404, 42105100, and 41977180), the Guangdong Basic and Applied Basic Research Foundation (China) (Nos. 2021A1515110297 and 2022A1515010866), the Basic Research of Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission (China) (No. JCYJ20190808145218827).

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Electronic Supplementary Material

Supplementary material is available in the online version of this article at https://doi.org/10.1007/s11783-024-1766-9 and is accessible for authorized users.

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