Michael Clairotte

• PhD
• Scientific / Technical Project Officer at European Commission

Background Road transport is an important contributor to the European Union’s total greenhouse gas emissions. This study aims at summarizing methane (CH 4 ) and nitrous oxide (N 2 O) exhaust emissions from L-category, light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles in the European Union. The assessment is based on measurements carried out in the Vehicle Emissio...

Miniaturized near infrared spectrometers are now available, at more affordable prices than conventional spectrometers, but their performances have been poorly studied to date. This paper aimed at comparing the performances of the JDSU MicroNIR 2200 spectrophotometer (weight < 0.1 kg) with those of a conventional bench-top instrument for predicting...

Carbonaceous particulate matter (PM), comprising black carbon (BC), primary organic aerosol (POA) and secondary organic aerosol (SOA, from atmospheric aging of precursors), is a highly toxic vehicle exhaust component. Therefore, understanding vehicle pollution requires knowledge of both primary emissions, and how these emissions age in the atmosphe...

Portable emission measurement systems (PEMS) are used onboard vehicles to determine the on-road real driving emissions of the vehicles for research or regulatory purposes. The assessment of a PEMS is carried out in a laboratory comparing it with laboratory grade systems (i.e., validation test). This procedure is described in the European Commission...

On-road real-driving emissions (RDE) tests with portable emissions measurement systems (PEMS) are part of the vehicle emissions regulations in the European Union (EU). For a given vehicle, the final emission results depend on the influence of the ambient conditions and the trip characteristics (including the driver’s behaviour) on the vehicle perfo...

Light-duty vehicle emission regulations worldwide set limits for the following gaseous pollutants: carbon monoxide (CO), nitric oxides (NOX), hydrocarbons (HCs), and/or non-methane hydrocarbons (NMHCs). Carbon dioxide (CO2) is indirectly limited by fleet CO2 or fuel consumption targets. Measurements are carried out at the dilution tunnel with “stan...

Particulate mass concentration is a crucial parameter for characterising air quality. The diesel particulate filter (DPF) is the primary technology used to limit vehicle particle emissions, but it needs periodic cleaning, a process called regeneration. This study aims to assess the impact of active DPF regeneration on the performance and emissions...

Compressed natural gas (CNG) and liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) are included in the group of promoted transport fuel alternatives in Europe. Most studies on emissions factors are based on old technology CNG and LPG fueled vehicles. Furthermore, there are not many data at low ambient temperatures, on-road driving, or unregulated pollutants, such as a...

This report presents the results for the work conducted by the JRC as European Commission contribution to the first year of market surveillance and regarding emissions from motor vehicles. The report, primarily targeted towards the bodies acting in the EU market surveillance, presents the emissions test results and the compliance findings, which ca...

Vehicle exhaust solid particle number emissions >23 nm (SPN23) and >10 nm (SPN10) were studied for 56 market light-duty vehicles with over 1000 laboratory tests. The studied vehicle-types were gasoline port-fueled injection (PFI), gasoline direct injection (GDI), GDI with gasoline particulate filter (GPF-GDI), and diesel equipped with particulate f...

Pollution from vehicles is a serious concern for the environment and human health. Vehicle emission regulations worldwide have limits for pollutants such as hydrocarbons, CO, and NOx. The measurements are typically conducted at engine dynamometers (heavy-duty engines) sampling from the tailpipe or at chassis dynamometers (light-duty vehicles) sampl...

Vehicles show higher emissions at cold temperature. Nevertheless, emissions during real world tests can be below Euro 6d-TEMP requirements. The relatively high PN emissions from gasoline and PHEV vehicles indicate there is still room for improvement.

In the European Union’s emissions regulations, limits for solid particles >23 nm are applicable for the type-approval and in use compliance of vehicles. Consequently, particle number (PN) systems are used very often for both research and development of engines and vehicles, both in the laboratory and on the road. The technical specifications of the...

This report summarises the results of the 2019 pilot study on the market surveillance of light-duty motor vehicles tailpipe emissions. Environmental pollutant emissions performances and CO2 emissions of thirty-five light-duty vehicles are presented. A new methodology for Euro 6d-TEMP and Euro 6d vehicle compliance checks is presented, applied and d...

For the type approval of compression ignition (diesel) and gasoline direct injection vehicles, a particle number (PN) limit of 6 × 10 ^11 p/km is applicable. Diesel vehicles in circulation need to pass a periodical technical inspection (PTI) test, typically every two years, after the first four years of circulation. However, often the applicable sm...

Human health and the environment are heavily impacted by air pollution. Air quality standards for Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and particulate matter (PM) are commonly exceeded in Europe, particularly in urban areas with high density of traffic. Road transport contributed to 39% of NOx emissions, and 11% of PM emissions in the European Union (EU) in 2017...

Mid-infrared reflectance spectroscopy (MIRS) is time- and cost-effective. It was used for quantifying soil inorganic carbon (SIC) concentration in France based on a national library, and performances were evaluated on an independent regional set. Our objective was to improve the accuracy of MIRS predictions based on common multivariate regression,...

Background Divergence in fuel consumption (FC) between the type-approval tests and real-world driving trips, known also as the FC gap, is a well-known issue and Europe is preparing the field for tackling it. The present study focuses on the monitoring of the FC of a single vehicle throughout 1 year with 20 different drivers and almost 14,000 km dri...

Passenger cars are an important source of air pollution, especially in urban areas. Recently, real-driving emissions (RDE) test procedures have been introduced in the EU aiming to evaluate nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate number (PN) emissions from passenger cars during on-road operation. Although RDE accounts for a large share of real-world d...

The recent Euro 4 and 5 environmental steps for L-category vehicles (e.g., mopeds, motorcycles) were mainly designed to reduce the emissions of particulate matter and ozone precursors, such as nitrogen oxides and hydrocarbons. However, the corresponding engine, combustion, and aftertreatment improvements will not necessarily reduce the solid partic...

This report presents the activities of the JRC on tailpipe emissions compliance assessment of light-duty vehicles conducted throughout 2018. Criteria pollutant and CO2 emissions of 19 vehicles were measured in the laboratory and on the road in a wide range of driving conditions. Distance-specific emissions for individual vehicles and per vehicle te...

In order to assess potential benefits brought by the electrification of transport it becomes more and more important to evaluate the performance of hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) in real-driving conditions, measuring on-road air pollutant emissions and energy efficiency. The present report describes a portable system used at JRC for e-measurements...

The introduction of a solid particle number limit for vehicles with gasoline direct injection (GDI) engines resulted in a lot of research and improvements in this field in the last decade. The requirement to also fulfil the limit in the recently introduced real-driving emissions (RDE) regulation led to the introduction of gasoline particulate filte...

Passenger cars are an important source of air pollution, especially in urban areas. Recently, real-driving emissions (RDE) test procedures have been introduced in the EU aiming to evaluate nitrogen oxides (NOx) and particulate number (PN) emissions from passenger cars during on-road operation. Although RDE accounts for a large variety of real-world...

Gas components, like carbon monoxide (CO) and dioxide (CO2), can be measured on a wet- or dry-basis depending on whether the water is left or removed from the sample before analysis. The dry concentrations of gaseous components in the exhaust from internal combustion engines are converted to wet concentrations with conversion factors based on the c...

Tailpipe emissions of a pool of 13 Euro 6b light-duty vehicles (eight diesel and five gasoline-powered) were measured over an extensive experimental campaign that included laboratory (chassis dynamometer), and on-road tests (using a portable emissions measurement system). The New European Driving Cycle (NEDC) and the Worldwide harmonised Light-duty...

Current (solid) particle number (SPN) regulations Post Euro 6/VI topics Going below 23 nm? Going to the tailpipe? Particle number PEMS Periodical inspection Non-exhaust emissions Conclusions on particle number

Nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions from diesel vehicles are a serious environmental concern. Prior to the introduction of on-road tests at type approval, vehicle on-road NOx emissions were found many times higher than the applicable limits. Retrofitting an existing vehicle is a short/mid-term solution. We evaluated a NOx reduction retrofit system inst...

The presentation summarises recent activities on road transport emissions in the EU from a regulatory point of view covering light-duty vehicles, heavy-duty vehicles, and non-road mobile machinery.

Particle number measurements in the European legislation and future JRC activities The solid particle number method was introduced in the European Union (EU) light-duty legislation for diesel vehicles to ensure the installation of the best-available technology for particles (i.e., wall-flow diesel particulate filters) without the uncertainties of t...

The recently introduced Real Driving Emissions (RDE) light-duty vehicle emissions regulation requires testing with Portable Emissions Measurement Systems (PEMS) during type approval and in-service conformity. The studies on the accuracy of PEMS today are limited. An inter-laboratory correlation exercise with PEMS took place in Italy in 2017. Eight...

Regulated and unregulated emissions from two Euro 6b diesel passenger cars tested using three different blends of hydrotreated vegetable oil (HVO), fossil diesel and commercial diesel (B7) were investigated at 23 °C and −7 °C using the World harmonized Light-duty vehicle Test Procedure at the Vehicle Emission Laboratory of the European Commission J...

This report summarises the results of the pilot study on the market surveillance of light-duty vehicles. The emission performance and the CO2 emissions of 15 vehicles are presented. The methodology for vehicle compliance checks defined in the Guidance note published by the European Commission was applied and discussed.

The Horizon 2020 prize for the "Engine Retrofit for Clean Air" aims at reducing the pollution in cities by spurring the development of retrofit technology for diesel engines. A Euro 5 passenger car was retrofitted with an under-floor SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) for NOx catalyst in combination with a solid ammonia based dosing system as the...

European regulation 2016/427 (the first package of the so-called Real-Driving Emissions (RDE) regulation) introduced on-road testing with Portable Emissions Measurement Systems (PEMS) to complement the chassis dynamometer laboratory (Type I) test for the type approval of light-duty vehicles in the European Union since September 2017. The Not-To-Exc...

There is increasing evidence suggesting that real-world fuel consumption and CO2 improvements in the last decade have been much less than those measured during type-approval tests. Scientific studies have found that the offset between officially reported values and real-world vehicle CO2 emissions in Europe has constantly increased over the last ye...

Regulation 2016/427 introduced on-road testing with Portable Emissions Measurement Systems (PEMS) to complement the laboratory Type I test for the type approval of light-duty vehicles in the European Union. A NOx conformity factor of 1.5 will apply from January 2020/2021. This conformity factor includes a margin of 0.5 to account for the additional...

There is increasing evidence suggesting that real-world fuel consumption and CO2 emissions improvements in the last decade have been much lower than the officially reported ones. Scientific studies show that the offset between officially reported values and real-world vehicle CO2 emissions in Europe has constantly increased over the last years. The...

An intercomparison exercise of the world-harmonized light-duty vehicle test procedure (WLTP) aiming at measuring ethanol, formaldehyde and acetaldehyde emissions from a flex-fuel light-duty vehicle using E85 was conducted in the Vehicle Emission Laboratory (VELA) at the European Commission Joint Research Centre (EC-JRC), Ispra, Italy. The instrumen...

Black Carbon (BC) in soil is considered a stable or resistant form of carbon, and thus it is important to determine its amount relative to the Total C (TC). As measurement of BC is quite time-consuming, involving chemo-thermo-oxidation at 375o C, decarbonation, and elemental analysis, it is anticipated that BC can be predicted using a rapid sensing...

The European Union implemented in 2016 the first two packages of the Real-Driving Emissions (RDE) test procedure as Regulations 2016/427 and 2016/646. The third regulatory RDE package addressing cold-start emissions, the testing of hybrid vehicles, and the measurement of particle number emissions was approved by a technical committee of experts fro...

The European Union Regulation 168/2013 requires an environmental effect study to confirm the provisions (defined therein and in Regulation 134/2014) for the type approval of the Euro 5 L-category vehicles (two- or three-wheel vehicles and quadricycles, such as quads and minicars). This effect study aims at providing additional information using mod...

Near infrared (NIR) and mid-infrared (mid-IR) reflectance spectroscopy are time- and cost-effective tools for characterising soil organic carbon (SOC). Here they were used for quantifying (i) carbon (C) dioxide (CO2) emission from soil samples crushed to 2 mm and 0.2 mm, at 18°C and 28°C; (ii) physical C protection, calculated as the difference bet...

Towards a new paradigm. The European Union Regulation 168/2013 requires an Effect Study to confirm the provisions for the type approval of the Euro 5 L-category vehicles (two- or three-wheel vehicles and quadricycles, such as quads and minicars). The present report describes the testing methodology and preliminary results as input to the main Effec...

Near infrared (NIR) and mid-infrared (mid-IR) reflectance spectroscopy are time- and cost-effective tools for characterising soil organic carbon (SOC). Here they were used for quantifying (i) carbon (C) dioxide (CO2) emission from soil samples crushed to 2 mm and 0.2 mm, at 18°C and 28°C; (ii) physical C protection, calculated as the difference bet...

The soil science community is facing a growing demand of regional, continental, and worldwide databases in order to monitor the status of the soil. However, the availability of such data is very scarce. Cost-effective tools to measure soil properties for large areas (e.g., Europe) are required. Soil spectroscopy has shown to be a fast, cost-effecti...

Four light-duty vehicles (two diesel, one flex-fuel, and one gasoline vehicle) were tested as part of an intercomparison exercise of the world-harmonized light-duty vehicle test procedure (WLTP) aiming at measuring real-time ammonia emissions from the vehicles’ raw exhaust at the tailpipe. The tests were conducted in the Vehicle Emission Laboratory...

A sampling campaign with seven different types of vehicles was conducted in 2009 at the vehicle test facilities of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) in Ispra (Italy). The vehicles chosen were representative of some categories circulating in Europe and were fueled either with standard gasoline or diesel and some with blends of rapeseed methyl ester bi...

Transport sector plays a key role in climate change and air pollution. Among the anthropogenic sectors, on-road transport is recognized as the first contributor to global warming, mainly due to its emission of carbon dioxide, ozone precursors and carbonaceous aerosols. In addition, on-road transport contributes to the deterioration of air quality b...

Fossil fuel-powered vehicles emit significant particulate matter, for example, black carbon and primary organic aerosol, and produce secondary organic aerosol. Here we quantify secondary organic aerosol production from two-stroke scooters. Cars and trucks, particularly diesel vehicles, are thought to be the main vehicular pollution sources. This ne...

We present a new mobile environmental reaction chamber for the simulation of the atmospheric aging of different emission sources without limitation from the instruments or facilities available at any single site. Photochemistry is simulated using a set of 40 UV lights (total power 4 KW). Characterisation of the emission spectrum of these lights sho...

According to directives 2003/30/EC and 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and the Council, Member States should promote the use of biofuel. Consequently, since 2011 all fuels on the market used for transport purpose must contain a fraction of 5.75% renewable energy sources. Ethanol in gasoline is a promising solution to reach this objective. In...

We present a new mobile environmental reaction chamber for the simulation of the atmospheric aging of aerosols from different emissions sources without limitation from the instruments or facilities available at any single site. The chamber can be mounted on a trailer for transport to host facilities or for mobile measurements. Photochemistry is sim...

Resonance-enhanced multiphoton ionisation time-of-flight mass spectrometry (REMPI-TOF-MS) is a robust method for real-time analysis of monocyclic and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in complex emissions. A mobile system has been developed which enables direct analysis on site. In this paper, we utilize a multicomponent calibration scheme based on...

Two-stroke mopeds are a popular and convenient mean of transport in particular in the highly populated cities. These vehicles can emit potentially toxic gaseous and aerosol pollutants due to their engine technology. The legislative measurements of moped emissions are based on offline methods; however, the online characterization of gas and particul...

Organic aerosol (OA) represents a significant and often major fraction of the non-refractory PM₁ (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter d _a < 1 μm) mass. Secondary organic aerosol (SOA) is an important contributor to the OA and can be formed from biogenic and anthropogenic precursors. Here we present results from the...

According to Directive 2003/30/EC and 2009/28/EC of the European Parliament and the Council, Member States should promote the use of biofuel. Consequently, all petrol and diesel used for transport purpose available on the market since the 1st of January 2011 must contain a reference value of 5.75% of renewable energy. Ethanol in gasoline could be a...

Compacted tractor wheel tracks have been recog- nized as key factors controlling runoff and erosion processes in agricultural landscapes. In this context, the availability of an au- tomatic tool for wheel tracks detection and characterization would be very useful. In this letter, an original algorithm based on Radon Transform is proposed for automa...

Organic aerosol (OA) represents a significant and often major fraction of the non-refractory PM1 (particulate matter with an aerodynamic diameter da 0.94 for the correlations between the four different SOA types after five hours of aging. High-resolution mass spectra (HR-MS) showed that the dominant peaks in the MS, m/z 43 and 44, are dominated by...

Measures must be undertaken to lower the transport sector’s contribution to anthropogenic emissions. Vehicles powered by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) are an option due to their reduced emissions of air pollutants compared to engines with conventional fuels. In the present study, ten different dual-fuel LPG/gasoline light duty vehicles were tested,...

The European Commission recently established a novel test facility for heavy-duty vehicles to enhance more sustainable transport. The facility enables the study of energy efficiency of various fuels/scenarios as well as the chemical composition of evolved exhaust emissions. Sophisticated instrumentation for real-time analysis of the gas and particu...

European regulation for Euro 5/6 light duty emissions introduced the measurement of non-volatile particles with diameter > 23 nm. The volatile phase is removed by using a heated dilution stage (150 °C) and a heated tube (at 300–400 °C). We investigated experimentally the removal efficiency for volatile species of the specific protocol by conducting...

The main objective of the present study was to investigate phosphorus (P) dynamics in the rhizosphere of durum wheat (Triticum turgidum durum L.) and common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) grown in monocropping and intercropping systems with nitrate supply. Wheat and common bean were grown either alone or in association in a cropping device with a thi...

* In Arabidopsis, SULTR1;1 and SULTR1;2 are two genes proposed to be involved in high-affinity sulphate uptake from the soil solution. We address here the specific issue of their functional redundancy for the uptake of sulphate and for the accumulation of its toxic analogue selenate with regard to plant growth and selenate tolerance. * Using the co...

The impact of a large rhizosphere alkalisation on copper (Cu) bioavailability to durum wheat (Triticum turgidum durum L.) initially exposed to a broad range of bulk soil pH (4.8–7.5) was studied. Plants were exposed to a Cu-contaminated soil treated with eight levels of lime (Ca(OH)2) and supplied with NO3 − or NH4 +-NO3 −. Nitrate-fed plants stron...

The main objective of the present study was to investigate phosphorus (P) dynamics in the rhizosphere of durum wheat (Triticum turgidum durum L.) and common bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) grown in monocropping and intercropping systems with nitrate supply. Wheat and common bean were grown either alone or in association in a cropping device with a thi...

The application of pig slurry in agricultural land is a potential source of Cu and Zn contamination of soils. A study was conducted at the Solepur experimental site in Brittany, northwestern France, which received massive, controlled applications of pig slurry over 5 consecutive years. A first objective was to evaluate the effect of pig slurry appl...