Preliminary results on the influence of car characteristics on their gases emissions using gas sensors

Abstract A method, based on the use of monitoring portable sensors, has been successfully employed for the determination of the composition of car exhausts from 11 diesel and 5 gasoline cars. These emissions include nitrogen oxides (NO x ), carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO 2 ) and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). The measures were taken in different places where each car was parked. In this study it has been tried to correlate the emitted gases with some of the car characteristics, such as the power (varied from 68 to 143 HP), the number of kilometers traveled and the age of the car (between 2 and 19 years). Results found show a significant variation of the emission values, which range between 490 and 3350 ppm for CO 2 , from 0.1 to 40.3 ppm for CO and between 0.13 and 32.25 mg/m 3 for VOCs. In the case of NO 2 emissions, the highest measured level was 4.66 mg/m 3 . Moreover, measurements of human breath, before starting up and turning off the car, were used to evaluate the impact of vehicle emissions on the human health. It was found exposition levels which indeed the effects of exhausts on the quality of operator air lungs.