EPAct/V2/E-89 Tier 2 Gasoline Fuel Effects Study Overview

Understanding the effects of fuel property changes on vehicle emissions is important for assessing in-use emission inventories as well as future policy decisions.This report describes program design and data collection in the EPAct/V2/E-89 light duty gasoline vehicle fuel effects study. The study examined the exhaust emission impacts of changes in five fuel properties (ethanol, T50, T90, aromatics, and RVP (specified as DVPE)) over a range covering current market fuels and potential mid-level ethanol blends.

This program was cosponsored by the Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory and the Coordinating Research Council. The program represented a major update to the large fuel effects datasets generated in the early 1990s and used in the EPA Complex and Predictive Models.

Fuel Paramaters

Fuel parameters studied include ethanol, aromatics, vapor pressure, T50, and T90 as well as key interactions between them that are necessary to understand the impacts of widespread blending of ethanol. A statistically optimized matrix of 27 test fuels was tested in a fleet of 15 high-sales cars and light trucks from the 2008 model year (Tier 2 compliant) over the LA92 cycle at 75°F. Four Flexible Fuel Vehicles in the test fleet were also tested on E85 fuel.

Final Report on Program Design and Data Collection

Program design and data collection activities are described in the first report. Detailed vehicle handling and testing protocols were implemented throughout to produce the highest quality data possible. A final dataset of 956 emission tests contains phase (bag) measurements of several regulated and unregulated gaseous pollutants and particulate matter (PM). The dataset also includes second-by-second emissions and engine parameters. Exhaust speciation was performed for a large subset of tests to allow calculation of derivative measurements like Non-Methane Organic Gas (NMOG), as well as estimation of fuel effects for specific air toxics such as aldehydes, acrolein, benzene and 1,3-butadiene.

Final Report on Analysis of the Dataset

A second report describes statistical analysis and modeling work done by EPA's Office of Transportation and Air Quality (OTAQ) Assessment and Standards Division. Models were fit to the individual phases of the LA92 cycle to allow assessment of fuel effects on cold start and hot running emissions. The database files linked below contain all regulated and speciated emission measurements by phase (bag), as well as vehicle and fuel data, which were used to perform data quality and modeling analyses.

• EPAct/V2/E-89 Final Report on Program Design and Data Collection - First Report (PDF) (76 pp, 802K, EPA-420-R-13-004, April 2013, About PDF)
• Appendices for EPAct/V2/E-89 Final Report on Program Design and Data Collection
• Information on Peer Review of Draft Analysis Report
• Final Report on EPA's Analysis of EPAct/V2/E-89 dataset - Second Report (PDF) (256 pp, 10.2MB, EPA-420-R-13-002, updated with editorial corrections April 26, 2013)
• Appendices for Final Report on EPA's Analysis of EPAct/V2/E-89 dataset(84 MB, April 2013) (ZIP)Free Viewers
• EPAct/V2/E-89 database for main fuel matrix(4 MB, April 2013) (Excel) Free Microsoft Office Viewers
• EPAct/V2/E-89 database for E85 fuel(198 K, April 2013) (Excel) Free Microsoft Office Viewers
• EPAct/V2/E-89 detailed fuel properties(173 K, April 2013) (Excel) Free Microsoft Office Viewers
• EPAct emission model calculator(33 K, May 2013) (Excel) Free Microsoft Office Viewers