Emissions from the vehicle exhaust have been considered to be affected by the vehicle technology, driving pattern as well as road conditions. How do the traffic emissions in developed countries different from those in developing countries? And what does it mean to the policy makers?
It is believed that quality of gasoline or diesel is an important factor that affects traffic emissions.
The emission of an individual vehicle may vary due to driving pattern and road condition. More prominent differences are the vehicle age mix (vehicles getting replaced with new ones), national emission regulations and vehicle inspection programs. Most developed countries ('A') have emission standards and require vehicles to be checked every few years, including emission measurement. Other countries ('B') have emission standards for new vehicles without a regular inspection program. On this basis, PIARC has defined three technology levels for countries A, B and C. Technology standard C applies to countries without any emission regulation.
http://www.piarc.org/en/
Developing countries often use older vehicles, which have old emission systems and would emit higher levels of things like particulate matter. Also, as mentioned above, developing countries may use lower qualities of gasoline. Some developing countries even still have lead in their gasoline, or may rely more heavily on diesel; which would increase emissions of lead and sulphur, respectively.
Also, many developed nations now blend fuels with ethanol. Although this reduces CO2 emissions, it has been shown to increase levels of aldehydes (particularly formaldehyde and aceytlaldehyde), which can have direct health impacts and increase tropospheric ozone formation.
Hope that helps.
Related to my response before: Here is a link to the 2012 PIARC Report on "Road Tunnels: Vehicle Emissions and Air Demand for Ventilation" with vehicle emissions CO, NOx and turbidity (related to PM) for various countries.
http://www.arnolddix.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/2012-Vehicle-emissions-and-air-demand-for-ventilation.pdf
Dear Dr. Judi Krzyzanowski,
"Also, many developed nations now blend fuels with ethanol. Although this reduces CO2 emissions, it has been shown to increase levels of aldehydes (particularly formaldehyde and aceytlaldehyde), which can have direct health impacts and increase tropospheric ozone formation."
It sounds interesting to me. Do you have any papers or link related to that issue?
Thank you so much.
Best regards,
Dear Dr. Huy,
Indeed there is a big difference in the emission due to several factors including the vehicles characteristics, maintenance scheme and even the driving patterns in the cities. I have been working a couple of years on estimating the emissions from vehicles in Colombia (developing country) and found that the differences between emission factors from developed and developing countries could be really important. We have recently published a paper titled "Influence of driving patterns on vehicle emissions: a case study for Latin American cities" in which we analyze the effect of implementing driving patterns from developed countries into a developing country.
If you want more information I would be pleased to provide it.
Greetings,
Edgar V.
Dear Dr. Edgar Virguez,
I found your articles already. Thank you very much for suggesting me this paper.
Best regards,
Lai Nguyen Huy
Can't we have a better catalytic converter to tackle the incomplete combustion and its effects !
Hi Arul,
Catalytic converter is only a part of emission control. The local driving pattern, quality of fuel, vehicle maintenance also affects on the emissions. Also, catalytic converter was affected by the leaded gasoline.
Dear Arul,
The problem would be that catalyc converter won´t last with fuels containing high levels of sulfur so they would need to be replaced really soon and that would imply high maintenance costs. Many of the cities around Latin America provides fuel with more than 100 ppm of sulfur.
This is a very important question, thank you Dr Huy. Most of the devolving countries has no legislation to eliminate or limiting the emitted pollutants, and the ones who has these legislation they don't work by it. Most cars are old without any exhaust after treatment as catalysts or pdf. The fuel properties are bad whether gasoline with low octane number or with high lead contents or diesel fuel with high sulfur contents. There is no education for the citizens about the seriousness of the pollutants emitted by cars, therefore this issue does not mean anything to him. This subject is very dangerous and sensitive and need fast and firm treatment .
Regards
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