Empa: Particle filters for gasoline engines
EXHAUST CLEANING Studies of the emission behavior of modern gasoline engines have produced alarming results. Gasoline engines emit even more particulates than diesel. Filters are urgently needed. Maria Muñoz of the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (Empa) was awarded the Swiss Aerosol Award. She found that new gasoline engines with direct injection emit even more carcinogenic substances than modern diesel engines. High particulate emissions [...]
Maria Muñoz from the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Testing and Research (Empa) has received the Swiss Aerosol Award. She found that new gasoline engines with direct injection emit even more carcinogenic substances than modern diesel engines.
High particle emissions
Christian Bach, head of the Vehicle Drivetrains department at Empa, comments on the exhaust gas researcher's findings: "Vehicles with direct-injection gasoline engines have advantages in terms of engine performance and fuel consumption, but can also emit high levels of particulate emissions under certain operating conditions."
Carcinogenic substances
At Empa, Maria Muñoz has studied in particular the genotoxic potential of Euro 3 to Euro 6b vehicles with direct-injection gasoline engines. In collaboration with the Universities of Applied Sciences of Bern and Northwestern Switzerland and the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI), she has characterized substances that adhere to soot particles as carcinogens. "Equipping gasoline vehicles with particulate filters is the order of the day," emphasizes Christian Bach. With these filters, not only are the particles filtered out of the exhaust gas, but also the substances that adhere to them, some of which are carcinogenic.
Retrofit already the environment
Markus Peter of the Automobile Industry Association of Switzerland (AGVS) concedes that retrofitting with gasoline particulate filters would be welcome from an environmental perspective. But without a legal obligation, the chances of retrofitting with particulate filters would be poor, because ""the voluntary nature of environmental protection measures often fails because of the purse strings.""
