Emissions automobile, vehicles

See also Acid Ram Air Quality, Indoor Atmosphere Automobile Performance Climatic Effects Emission Control, Vehicle Emission Control, Power Plant Environmental Economics Environmental Problems and Energy Use Gasoline and Additives Transportation, Evolution of Energy Use and Turbines, Gas. 

Air quality suffers from this increasing congestion as well. Motor vehicles create the majority of air quality problems in urban areas, so for cities to comply with stringent ambient air quality standards, they will have to reduce motor vehicle emissions. Trucking accounts for only 4 percent of the U.S. motor vehicle fleet, yet can easily be responsible for 30 to 40 percent of the air quality problems because, in comparison to automobiles, the fleet is far older, is driven far more miles each year, and the emissions per vehicle are far greater. 

At the local level, air pollution concerns a region within a 5-km radius. It is characterized by high concentrations of specific pollutants that may come from automobiles or industrial activities in that region. For example, emissions from vehicles can lead to high concentrations of carbon monoxide near traffic-jammed roads. High buildings and the terrain can also contribute to high local concentrations of pollutants. 

From the startpoint, these meetings had an important succes, in spite of the otherwise very restricted topics. These last years, the problem of pollution by the emission from the engines of automobile vehicles has been examined in one of the sessions of several more general meetings devoted to transportation problems or to fiiels production. 

The production of transportation fuels is of less importance on a worldwide scale but has been important in some countries. In Brazil, for example, production of ethanol from sugar provided nearly 14 billion liters per year for automobiles during the mid-1990s. In the United States, ethanol from com has provided as much as about 4 bilhon liters per year, although production depends on financial subsidies. There is potential for increased demand as an agent to reduce air pollution emissions from vehicle fuel, however (Goldenberg, J. et al, 2000). 

In 1989, CARB formulated a set of increasingly stringent standards for low-emission automobiles, thereby creating several new classes of vehicles transitional low-emission vehicles (TLEV), low-emission vehicles (LEV), ultralow-emission vehicles (ULEV), and zero-emission vehicles (ZEV). Sales of these vehicles are required to be phased in over the next 10 years so that an increasing fraction of California automobiles will be low-emission vehicles. Other states have the freedom to adopt the "California rules" in their entirety, and so far New... 

Although the naturally occurring concentration of ozone at the earth s surface is low, the distribution has been altered by the emission of pollutants, primarily by automobiles but also from industrial sources which lead to the formation of ozone. The strategy for controlling ambient ozone concentrations arising from automobile exhaust emissions is based on the control of hydrocarbons, CO, and NO via catalytic converters. As a result, peak ozone levels in Los Angeles, for instance, have decreased from 0.58 ppm in 1970 to 0.33 ppm in 1990, despite a 66% increase in the number of vehicles. 

In the United States, federal regulations require automobile manufacturers to certify that vehicles are ia compliance with exhaust emission standards when tested under specific test procedures. 

Emission Control Technologies. The California low emission vehicle (LEV) standards has spawned iavestigations iato new technologies and methods for further reducing automobile exhaust emissions. The target is to reduce emissions, especially HC emissions, which occur during the two minutes after a vehicle has been started (53). It is estimated that 70 to 80% of nonmethane HCs that escape conversion by the catalytic converter do so during this time before the catalyst is fully functional. 

The emissions from a gasoline-powered vehicle come from many sources. Figure 6-12 illustrates what might be expected from an uncontrolled (1960 model) automobile and a controlled (1983 or later model) automobile if it complies with the 1983 federal standards (7). With most of today s automobiles using unleaded gasoline, lead emissions are no longer a major concern. 

In view of the unforeseen growth in automobile emissions in urban areas combined with the serious air pollution problems in many urban areas, the Congress has made significant changes to the motor vehicle provisions on the 1977 Clean Air Act. 

The Clean Air Act of 1990 establishes tighter pollution standards for emissions from automobiles and trucks. These standards will reduce tailpipe emissions of hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides on a phased-in basis beginning in model year 1994. Automobile manufacturers will also be required to reduce vehicle emissions resulting from the evaporation of gasoline during refueling. 

List the alternatives that are possible to replace present automobiles with vehicles, or systems, that will reduce emissions of VOCs, NO, and CO,... 

In the United States, regulation of emissions from new automotive vehicles has followed the prototype-replicate route. The argument for routine annual automobile inspection is that cars should be regularly inspected for safety (brakes, lights, steering, and tires) and that the additional time and cost required to check the car s emission control system during the same inspection will be minimal. Such an inspection certainly pinpoints cars whose emission control system has been removed, altered, damaged, or deteriorated and force such defects to be remedied. The question is whether... 

Fuel cells, which rely on electrochemical generation of electric power, could be used for nonpolluting sources of power for motor vehicles. Since fuel cells are not heat engines, they offer the potential for extremely low emissions with a higher thermal effidency than internal combustion engines. Their lack of adoption by mobile systems has been due to their cost, large size, weight, lack of operational flexibility, and poor transient response. It has been stated that these problems could keep fuel cells from the mass-produced automobile market until after the year 2010 (5). 

Would you expect to find the same chemical composition of the hydrocarbons from the exhaust of a gasoline-powered automobile as that of gasoline in the vehicle s tank Why What would be the effect on emissions from a gasoline-powered vehicle if it was designed to be operated on leaded fuel and an unleaded fuel was used ... 

The factory-produced, dedicated NGV is the ultimate goal of the NGV industry because it will reduce the incremental cost of the vehicle, the fuel system will be belter integrated into the vehicle, and the vehicle performance can be optimized for natural gas. A dedicated NGV s emissions, power, and driveability can be superior to a comparable gasoline vehicle. There is however, a reluctance by some automobile manufacturers to produce dedicated NGVs until the refueling infrastructure is more fully developed. 

Photochemical smogs arise worldwide because of the action of sunlight on emissions from gasoline-powered vehicles. Decreased visibility, increased morbidity, and crop damage as a result of photochemical smogs led to introduction of the catalytic converter on automobiles in the United States. This has had only a small impact on the occurrence of photochemical smogs in the United States. 

Transportation accounts for about one-fourth of the primary energy consumption in the United States. And unlike other sectors of the economy that can easily switch to cleaner natural gas or electricity, automobiles, trucks, nonroad vehicles, and buses are powered by internal-combustion engines burning petroleum products that produce carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen oxides, and hydrocarbons. Efforts are under way to accelerate the introduction of electric, fuel-cell, and hybrid (electric and fuel) vehicles to replace sonic of these vehicles in both the retail marketplace and in commercial, government, public transit, and private fleets. These vehicles dramatically reduce harmful pollutants and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 50 percent or more compared to gasoline-powered vehicles. 

Comite des Constructeurs d Automobiles du Marche Commun represents joint industry opinion on factors such as lubricant specifications, emissions, vehicle design and safety standards. With regard to crankcase lubricants, CCMC defines sequences of engine tests, and the tests themselves are defined by CEC (Coordinating European Committee for the Development of Performance Tests for Lubricants and Engine Euels a joint body of the oil and motor industries). 

Serious research in catalytic reduction of automotive exhaust was begun in 1949 by Eugene Houdry, who developed mufflers for fork lift trucks used in confined spaces such as mines and warehouses (18). One of the supports used was the monolith—porcelain rods covered with films of alumina, on which platinum was deposited. California enacted laws in 1959 and 1960 on air quality and motor vehicle emission standards, which would be operative when at least two devices were developed that could meet the requirements. This gave the impetus for a greater effort in automotive catalysis research (19). Catalyst developments and fleet tests involved the partnership of catalyst manufacturers and muffler manufacturers. Three of these teams were certified by the California Motor Vehicle Pollution Control Board in 1964-65 American Cyanamid and Walker, W. R. Grace and Norris-Thermador, and Universal Oil Products and Arvin. At the same time, Detroit announced that engine modifications by lean carburation and secondary air injection enabled them to meet the California standard without the use of catalysts. This then delayed the use of catalysts in automobiles. 

We have included in this volume two chapters specifically related to society s kinetic system. We have asked James Wei of the University of Delaware, recent Chairman of the consultant panel on Catalyst Systems for the National Academy of Sciences Committee on Motor Vehicle Emissions, to illustrate key problems and bridges between the catalytic science and the practical objectives of minimizing automobile exhaust emissions. We have also asked for a portrayal of the hard economic facts that constrain and guide what properties in a catalyst are useful to the catalytic practitioner. For this we have turned to Duncan S. Davies, General Manager of Research and Development, and John Dewing, Research Specialist in Heterogeneous Catalysts, both from Imperial Chemical Industries Limited. 

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