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CHARACTERIZATION OF EMISSIONS FROM HAND-HELD TWO-STROKE ENGINES
Citation:
Gabele, P A. CHARACTERIZATION OF EMISSIONS FROM HAND-HELD TWO-STROKE ENGINES. Presented at 93rd Annual AWMA Conference, Salt Lake City, UT, June 18-22, 2000.
Impact/Purpose:
The goals of this research are to reduce uncertainties in the non-isoprene portion (ozone and aerosol precursors) of the biogenic emission inventory used in EPA air quality models through measurements of emissions from forest canopies and determination of their dependence on growth cycles and environmental variables.
Description:
Despite their extremely high organic and particulate matter emission rates, two-stroke engines remain among the least studied of engine types. Such studies are rare because they are costly to perform. Results reported in this paper were obtained using a facility that shares exhaust emission sampling and analytical systems with an adjacent emissions test laboratory. This enabled a comprehensive examination of emissions from three hand-held, two-stroke, engines. In addition to the determination of routine regulated pollutant emission rates, organic emissions are speciated and particulate matter emission rates are measured. Each engine was tested using two fuels: 1990 Baseline Gasoline and a reformulated gasoline. One engine was run for an extended period to assess durability effects on exhaust emissions, and another was operated at a leaner air-fuel ratio setting to examine enleanment effects. In the durability testing, organic and particulate matter emissions actually appear to decrease slightly with increased operating time. In the enleanment test, organic and carbon monoxide emission rates decreased significantly, as expected, with the increase in air-fuel ratio. Large decreases in particulate matter also ensued. Fuel selection strongly influenced composition of organic emissions. With reformulated gasoline, aggregate toxic and ozone potential emissions were consistently lower compared to emissions with the Baseline fuel.
The information in this paper has been funded by the Environmental Protection Agency. It has been subjected to Agency review and approved for publication. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.