Evaluation of the European PMP Methodologies during On-Road and Chassis Dynamometer Testing for DPF Equipped Heavy-Duty Diesel Vehicles

This study evaluated the UN-ECE Particle Measurement Programme (PMP) protocol for the measurement of solid particle number emissions under laboratory and on-road conditions for two passive diesel particle filters (DPF)–equipped medium and heavy-heavy duty diesel vehicles. The PMP number emissions were lower than the European light-duty certification value (9.6 × 10¹¹ #/mi) for all standardized cycles, but exceeded this value during some higher load on-road driving conditions. Particle number measurements were generally less variable than those of the PM mass for the on-road testing, but had comparable or greater variability than PM mass for the laboratory measurements due to outliers. These outliers appear to be real events that are not apparent with integrated filter methods. The particle number measurements for the low cut point CPCs (3–7 nm) below the PMP system were approximately an order of magnitude higher than those for the PMP-compliant CPC (23 nm), indicating the presence of a large fraction of solid sub-23 nm particles. Although such particles are defined as solid by the PMP method, their actual state is unknown. Nucleation particles with a large sulfate contribution formed under a variety of conditions when the exhaust temperature near the DPF exceeded a “critical” temperature, typically >300°C.