Effects of the particulate matter index and particulate evaluation index of the primary reference fuel on particulate emissions from gasoline direct injection vehicles

The purpose of this experimental study was to evaluate the range of particulate mass (PM) and particulate number (PN) results from gasoline direct injection (GDI) vehicles by using four test fuels with a range of particulate matter index (PMI) from 1.38 to 2.39 and particulate evaluation index (PEI) from 0.89 to 1.92. The properties of four test fuels were analyzed with detailed hydrocarbon analysis (DHA). Two passenger cars with a GDI engine were tested with four test fuels by conducting the China 6 test procedure, which is equivalent to the worldwide harmonized light-duty vehicle test procedure (WLTP). When the fuels could meet the China 6 primary reference fuel standard with PMI from 1.38 to 2.04 and PEI from 0.89 to 1.59, the PM variation of Vehicle B was from 1.94 mg/km to 3.32 mg/km and of Vehicle A was from 2.55 mg/km to 4.15 mg/km, respectively. In addition, the PN variation of Vehicle B was from 1.57 × 10¹² #/km to 3.38 × 10¹² #/km and of Vehicle A was from 3.02 × 10¹² #/km to 4.80 × 10¹² #/km. It was noted that the two different cars had a unique response and sensitivity by using the different fuels, but PMI and PEI did trend with both the PM and the PN response. All PM and PN results from the two cars had an excellent correlation R² > 0.94 with PMI and R² > 0.90 with PEI. Therefore, PMI/PEI would be the appropriate specification for sooting tendency in reference fuel standards of emission regulations.