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Greenhouse Gas and Noxious Emissions from Dual Fuel Diesel and Natural Gas Heavy Goods Vehicles.

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Repository DOI


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Authors

Stettler, Marc EJ 
Midgley, William JB 
Swanson, Jacob J 
Boies, Adam M 

Abstract

Dual fuel diesel and natural gas heavy goods vehicles (HGVs) operate on a combination of the two fuels simultaneously. By substituting diesel for natural gas, vehicle operators can benefit from reduced fuel costs and as natural gas has a lower CO2 intensity compared to diesel, dual fuel HGVs have the potential to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from the freight sector. In this study, energy consumption, greenhouse gas and noxious emissions for five after-market dual fuel configurations of two vehicle platforms are compared relative to their diesel-only baseline values over transient and steady state testing. Over a transient cycle, CO2 emissions are reduced by up to 9%; however, methane (CH4) emissions due to incomplete combustion lead to CO2e emissions that are 50-127% higher than the equivalent diesel vehicle. Oxidation catalysts evaluated on the vehicles at steady state reduced CH4 emissions by at most 15% at exhaust gas temperatures representative of transient conditions. This study highlights that control of CH4 emissions and improved control of in-cylinder CH4 combustion are required to reduce total GHG emissions of dual fuel HGVs relative to diesel vehicles.

Description

Keywords

Carbon Dioxide, Gasoline, Methane, Motor Vehicles, Natural Gas, Nitrogen Oxides, Particulate Matter, Vehicle Emissions

Journal Title

Environ Sci Technol

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

0013-936X
1520-5851

Volume Title

50

Publisher

American Chemical Society (ACS)
Sponsorship
Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/K00915X/1)
Technology Strategy Board (400266)
Foundation for Research, Science and Technology (New Zealand) (CAMX0801)
The authors would like to acknowledge support from the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EP/K00915X/1), the UK Department for Transport, the Office for Low Emission Vehicles and Innovate UK (project reference: 400266) and the industrial partners of the Centre for Sustainable Road Freight.