Intercomparison of real-time tailpipe ammonia measurements from vehicles tested over the new world-harmonized light-duty vehicle test cycle (WLTC)

Four light duty vehicles (two diesels, one flex-fuel and one gasoline vehicle) were tested as part of an intercomparison exercise of the World harmonized Light-duty vehicle Test Procedure (WLTP) aiming at measuring real-time ammonia emissions from the vehicles’ raw exhaust at the tailpipe. The tests were conducted in the Vehicle Emission Laboratory (VELA) at the European Commission Joint Research Centre (EC-JRC) Ispra, Italy. HORIBA, CGS and the Sustainable Transport Unit of the JRC, took part in the measurement and analysis of the four vehicles exhaust emissions over the World harmonized Light-duty vehicle Test Cycle (WLTC) class 3, version 5.3 using a HORIBA MEXA 1400 QL-NX, a CGS BLAQ-Sys and the JRC FTIR, respectively. The measured ammonia concentrations and the emission profiles revealed that these three instruments are suitable to measure ammonia from the vehicles raw exhaust, presenting no significant differences. Furthermore, results showed that measurement of ammonia from the vehicle exhaust using online systems can be performed guaranteeing the reproducibility and repeatability of the results. While no ammonia was detected for any of the two diesel vehicles (even though, one was equipped with a SCR system) average ammonia emission factors 8-10 mg/km (average concentrations 20-23 ppm) and 10-12 mg/km (average concentrations 22-24 ppm) were estimated for the flex-fuel and gasoline vehicles, respectively.JRC.F.8-Sustainable Transpor