Casual misfueling of catalyst equipped vehicles

Technical Report · Mon Oct 01 04:00:00 EDT 1979

OSTI ID:6881527

Long, J B

Five vehicles were tested using two different fuels. After baseline emissions were established for each vehicle the catalysts were poisoned by driving the cars using one tank of leaded fuel. Unleaded fuel was then used for three consecutive tanks in order to investigate the recovery capacity of the catalyst. After this phase the catalysts were again poisoned in the same fashion and again allowed to recover. In all cases the emissions increased substantially after the exposure to leaded fuel, and in all cases there was some recovery. This pattern continued through the second misfueling and recovery sequence. The immediate increase in average hydrocarbon emissions for the test vehicles was 344% of the baseline. After the second recovery sequence, hydrocarbon emissions were 214% of the baseline. For carbon monoxide the emissions increased to 204% at the outset and recovered to 125% of the baseline value at the completion of the test program.

• Research Organization: Environmental Protection Agency, Ann Arbor, MI (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6881527
• Report Number(s): PB-80-153950
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

33 ADVANCED PROPULSION SYSTEMS
330700* -- Advanced Propulsion Systems-- Emission Control
AUTOMOBILES
AUTOMOTIVE FUELS
CATALYTIC CONVERTERS
ENERGY CONSUMPTION
EQUIPMENT
EXHAUST GASES
FLUIDS
FUEL CONSUMPTION
FUELS
GASEOUS WASTES
GASES
GASOLINE
HYDROCARBONS
LIQUID FUELS
ORGANIC COMPOUNDS
PETROLEUM PRODUCTS
POLLUTION CONTROL EQUIPMENT
RECOVERY
UNLEADED GASOLINE
VEHICLES
WASTES