Effects of gasoline aromatic content on emissions of volatile organic compounds and aldehydes from a four-stroke motorcycle

A new four-stroke carburettor motorcycle engine without any engine adjustments was used to study the impact of fuel aromatic content on the exhaust emissions of organic air pollutants (volatile organic compounds and carbonyls). Three levels of aromatic content, i.e. 15, 25, and 50% (vol.) aromatics mixed with gasoline were tested. The emissions of aromatic fuel were compared with those of commercial unleaded gasoline. The results indicated that the A15 (15vol% aromatics in gasoline) fuel exhibited the greatest total organic emission improvement among these three aromatic fuels as compared with commercial gasoline, reaching 59%. The highest emission factors of alkanes, alkenes, and carbonyl groups appeared in the reference fuel (RF) among all of the test fuels. A15 showed the highest emission reduction in alkanes (73%), aromatics (36%), and carbonyls (28%), as compared to those of the RF. The highest emission reduction of alkenes was observed when using A25 as fuel. A reduction in fuel aromatic content from 50 to 25 and 15vol% in gasoline decreased benzene and toluene emissions, but increased the aldehyde emissions. In general, the results showed that the highest emission reductions for the most of measured organic pollutants appeared when using A15 as the fuel.