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The Influence of Passenger Car Population and Their Activities on NOX and PM Emissions (Data from Croatia)

Nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from passenger cars (PCs) in the Republic of Croatia have been on the increase since 2014. Additionally, particulate matter (PM) emissions are not on the decline, but have been stagnating since 2015. (Resetar et al., 2017). The reason for this is the increase in vehicle exploitation that comes as a result of Croatia’s recovery from the 2008 – 2013 economic crisis. Aside from that, Croatia’s 2013 entry into the EU has resulted in an increased number of used PCs imported from the EU. Emissions from these used PCs are substantially higher than those of new PCs, whose sales have been slashed in half after 2008. The current trend is an increase of PCs in Croatia, which is bound to result in an overall increase of emissions. In order to apply justified emission reducing measures it is necessary to assess the main sources of pollution. In the case of harmful emissions, NOx and PM emissions are the ones that were examined. Exposure to increased concentrations of NOx and PM emissions is known to cause respiratory ailments, heart diseases, stroke and can be the cause of premature death (Guttikunda and Goel, 2013). The most severe problem is found in urban areas with high traffic density. It is well known that diesel- engine PCs generate the majority of harmful NOx and PM emissions. Additionally, recent research suggests that even the NOx emissions of newer diesel-engine PCs, which are in accordance with Euro 5 and Euro 6 emission standards, taken from real driving conditions are several times higher than the emission limit values prescribed by Regulation 715/2007 (O’Driscoll et al., 2016). A number of different criteria must be taken into account so as to determine which PC categories generate the most NOx and PM emissions. The following criteria have been taken into account in the scope of this research: fuel type, engine capacity, emission standard, driving mode, engine temperature (including cold start) and average annual vehicle mileage. The processed data on the PC fleet that underwent technical inspection in 2016 was gathered from the database of Centre for Vehicles of Croatia (CVH), the company whose primary activity is performing periodical technical inspections on vehicles in Croatia. This is a unique database that contains data on all vehicles registered in Croatia, including periodical technical inspection data and annual vehicle activity data. For relevant PC subcategories, emissions and implied emission factors for pollutants NOx and PM were calculated for the year 2016 using the COPERT 5 computer program.

COPERT ; Emissions ; Emission factors ; Passenger cars

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