Ricardo Suarez-Bertoa

• PhD
• European Commission

As tailpipe emissions have decreased, there is a growing focus on the relative contribution of non-exhaust sources of vehicle emissions. Addressing these emissions is key to better evaluating and reducing vehicles’ impact on air quality and public health. Tailoring solutions for different non-exhaust sources, including brake emissions, is essential...

Emissions standards describe the fuels, the procedures, and, among others, the analyzers to be used for the measurement of the different compounds during the type-approval of heavy-duty engines and vehicles. Traditionally, NOx, CO, hydrocarbons, and CO2 were the gaseous compounds measured within the Euro standard, with the later addition of CH4 and...

Thousands of particle number (PN) counters have been introduced to the European market, following the implementation of PN tests during the periodic technical inspection (PTI) of diesel vehicles equipped with particulate filters. Expanding the PN-PTI test to gasoline vehicles may face several challenges due to the different exhaust aerosol characte...

Background All light-duty (LD) and heavy-duty (HD) vehicles circulating in the European Union undergo regular checks during mandatory periodic technical inspections (PTI). These inspections promote road safety and environmental protection. Vehicles with defective deNOx aftertreatment systems can result in high emissions of NOx, which is an importan...

This study compares emissions from Euro VI-D Diesel and CNG buses across temperatures from −7 °C to 35 °C. Pollutants including NOx, THC, CH4, CO, NH3, N2O, HCHO, Solid Particle Number larger than 23 nm (SPN23) and larger than 10 nm (SPN10) were measured. Both buses complied with Euro VI-D but exceeded European Commission’s proposed Euro 7 limits,...

As tailpipe emissions have decreased, there is growing focus on the relative contribution of non-exhaust sources of vehicle emissions. Addressing these emissions is key to better evaluating and reducing vehicles’ impact on air quality and public health. Tailoring solutions for different non-exhaust sources, including brake emissions, is essential f...

Automated driving systems (ADSs) navigating intersections, on top of avoiding accidents, should respect the safety distances accepted by human drivers, especially in case they lack the right of way in an unsignalized intersection. Failing to properly handle these types of situations can result on the one side in a high perceived risk by the approac...

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...

Background Air pollution is a major health concern in worldwide. Non-methane volatile organic compounds (NMVOCs) are precursors of secondary air pollutants, with road transport being responsible of ~ 90% for the EU-27’s NMVOCs transport emissions in 2021. A series of VOC emissions from 17 modern gasoline, Diesel and Plug-in hybrid (PHEV) vehicles w...

A heavy-duty engine is homologated in a test cell. However, starting with Euro VI regulation, the in-service conformity is controlled with the engine installed in the vehicle using portable emission measurement systems (PEMS). In Europe, the application of solid particle number (SPN) PEMS started in 2021 for compression ignition (diesel) vehicles a...

The upcoming Euro 7 regulation for Heavy-Duty (HD) vehicles is calling for a further tightening of the Solid Particle Number (SPN) emissions by means of both lowering the applicable limits and shifting the lowest detectable size from 23 nm (SPN23) to 10 nm (SPN10). A late-technology diesel HD truck was tested on a chassis dynamometer in order to as...

A Periodic Technical Inspection (PTI) of vehicles promotes road safety and environmental protection. Indeed, a PTI is also used to verify the proper functioning of the vehicle’s aftertreatment system (ATS) over its lifetime. While the current Directive 2014/45/EU, which covers the PTI, does not require a NOx emissions measurement, the ongoing revis...

Automated driving systems (ADSs) navigating intersections, on top of avoiding accidents, should respect the safety distances accepted by human drivers, especially in case they lack the right of way in an unsignalized intersection. Failing to properly handle this type of situations can result on the one side in a high perceived risk by the approachi...

The European Union’s ambition to reach climate neutrality and a toxic-free environment by 2050 entails, among other things, cleaner road vehicles. The European Commission’s proposal for the next regulatory emissions standard, Euro 7, requires the measurement of pollutants currently not regulated on the road. In this study we compared a prototype po...

In this work, the performance of on-board vehicle exhaust emission sensors is investigated and compared to reference laboratory and on-road instrumentation for two modern diesel light-duty commercial vehicles, type-approved as Euro 6d-TEMP-EVAP-ISC and Euro 6d-ISC-FCM. The first step of the analysis was to perform emissions tests in the laboratory...

Formaldehyde (HCHO), a carcinogenic carbonyl compound and precursor of tropospheric ozone, can be found in vehicle exhaust. Even though the continuous monitoring of HCHO has been recommended, the real-world emissions from the road transport sector are not commonly available. The main reason for this knowledge gap has been the difficulty to measure...

The latest generation of heavy-duty vehicles (Euro VI step E) have to respect low emission limits both in the laboratory and on the road. The most challenging pollutants for diesel vehicles are NOx and particles; nevertheless, NH3 and N2O need attention. In this study, we measured regulated and unregulated pollutants of a Euro VI step E Diesel vehi...

The European Commission (EC) is in the process of finalizing the proposal for the upcoming legislative stage for light- and heavy-duty vehicles. The emission performance over extended operating conditions is under consideration. Furthermore, a tightening of the Solid Particle Number (SPN) limits with a parallel shift of the lowest detectable size f...

UN Regulation 157, the first global regulation regarding the type-approval of Automated Driving Systems (ADS), has been adopted in 2021. In it, safety performance requirements are being defined for vehicles of automation Level 3, according to the SAE J3016, with a limited Operational Design Domain (ODD). In particular, for three types of events tha...

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are promoted as an alternative to conventional vehicles to meet European decarbonisation and air quality targets. However, several studies have shown that gasoline PHEVs present similar criteria and particulate emissions as their conventional gasoline counterparts. In the present work, we investigate the env...

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs) are a promising technology for reducing the tailpipe emissions of CO2 as well as air pollutants, especially in urban environments. However, several studies raise questions over their after-treatment exhaust efficiency when their internal combustion engine (ICE) ignites. The rationale is the high ICE load dur...

Periodic technical inspection (PTI) of vehicles guarantees safety and environmental compliance during their lifetime. Particulate matter emissions of diesel vehicles are controlled with opacity measurements. After the introduction of diesel particulate filters (DPFs), particulate matter emissions have drastically decreased and the sensitivity of th...

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...

In this manuscript, we evaluated different emission scenarios for light-duty road transport to evaluate their impact on air quality in the EU, with a focus on a number of cities by means of the EMEP (European Monitoring and Evaluation Programme) modelling system. In addition to the reference case scenario, where exhaust emission factors from COPERT...

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...

Road transport is a relevant source of greenhouse gas emissions. In order to meet the European decarbonisation targets, the share of electrified vehicles, including battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEVs), is rapidly growing, becoming the second most popular powertrain in the European market. PHEVs are of interest sin...

The Horizon 2020 prizes aimed at the development of retrofit and engines that would reduce pollution. The Retrofit prize had a winner, while the Engine prize not. In this paper we present the innovations that were tested at the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission, and not awarded. One was a “condensation” aftertreatment device, t...

Ammonia (NH3) plays a key role in atmospheric chemistry and largely contributes to the PM2.5 measured in urban areas around the globe. For that reason, the National Emission Ceilings directive, Gothenburg Protocol under the United Nations Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, and International Panel for Climate Change (IPCC) directi...

The European Union (EU) has introduced since the early 1990s a series of progressively more stringent emission regulations to control air pollution from the transport sector, commonly known as Euro standards. Following this path, more recently, with the European Green Deal, the European Commission has indicated the intention to review the current a...

Following the increase in stringency of the European regulation limits for laboratory and real world automotive emissions, one of the main transport related aspects to improve the air quality is the mass scale in-use vehicle testing. Solid particle number (SPN) emissions have been drastically reduced with the use of diesel and gasoline particulate...

The development and utilization of a series of after-treatment devices in modern vehicles has led to an increase in emissions of NH3 and/or N2O with respect to the past. N2O is a long-lived greenhouse gas and an ozone-depleting substance, while NH3 is a precursor of secondary aerosols in the atmosphere. Certain regions, e.g., the EU and the USA, ha...

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...

Gaseous emissions of modern Euro 6d vehicles, when tested within real driving emissions (RDE) boundaries, are, in most cases, at low levels. There are concerns, though, about their emission performance when tested at or above the boundaries of ambient and driving conditions requirements of RDE regulations. In this study, a Euro 6d-Temp gasoline dir...

This paper reviews the recent advances in the management of nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions from the internal combustion engine of light-duty and heavy-duty vehicles, addressing both technical and legal aspects. Particular focus is devoted to the often-virtuous interaction between new legislation imposing more restrictions on the permitted pollutant...

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.

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...

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...

The transport sector is one of the main sources air pollutants. Different exhaust after-treatment systems have been implemented over the years to control the emissions of criteria pollutants. However, while reducing the emissions of the target compounds these systems can lead to the emissions of other pollutants and/or greenhouse gases such as NH 3...

Multifunctional organic nitrates, including carbonyl nitrates, are important species formed in NOx-rich atmospheres by the degradation of volatile organic compounds (VOCs). These compounds have been shown to play a key role in the transport of reactive nitrogen and, consequently, in the ozone budget; they are also known to be important components o...

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...

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...

Multifunctional organic nitrates, including carbonyl nitrates, are important species formed in NOx rich atmospheres by the degradation of VOCs. These compounds have been shown to play a key role in the transport of reactive nitrogen and consequently in the ozone budget, but also to be important components of the total organic aerosol. However, very...

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...

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.

Plug-in hybrid electrical vehicles (PHEVs) are generally considered to be a cleaner alternative to conventional passenger cars. However, there is still very limited information available regarding criteria pollutant emissions from these vehicles. This paper shows, for the first time, the emissions of criteria pollutants, unregulated pollutants, and...

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...

We report exhaust emissions of regulated and unregulated gaseous compounds (aromatic, oxygenated, and nitrogen-containing compounds), particle mass and soot content for a series of 5 utility hand-held machines typically used in gardening and forestry operation in Europe. The engines were tested in the Vehicle Emissions Laboratory of the European Co...

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...

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...

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...

Euro VI emission standards for heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) introduced for the first time limits for solid particle number (PN) and NH3 emissions. EU regulation also includes a Portable Emissions Measurement System (PEMS) based test at type approval, followed by in-service conformity (ISC) testing. A comprehensive study on the real-time on-road emiss...

Hydrocarbons, CO, NOx, NH3, N2O, CO2 and particulate matter emissions affect air quality, global warming and human health. Transport sector is an important source of these pollutants and high pollution episodes are often experienced during the cold season. However, EU vehicle emissions regulation at cold ambient temperature only addresses hydrocarb...

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...

NH3 is a precursor of PM2.5 which deteriorates urban air quality, affects human health and impacts the global radiation budget. Since vehicles are important sources of NH3 in urban areas, we have satisfactorily studied the possibility of measuring NH3 emissions from gasoline and SCR-equipped diesel light-duty vehicles during real driving on-road op...

A fleet of 9 two-wheelers (5 mopeds and 4 motorcycles) was tested in the Vehicle Emissions Laboratory of the European Commission Joint Research Centre to evaluate the effect of several tampering procedures on the tailpipe exhaust emissions. Vehicles performed prescribed driving cycles (ECE-R47 and WMTC) on a chassis dynamometer in a climatic test c...

Vehicles are considered to be an important source of ammonia (NH3) and isocyanic acid (HNCO). HNCO and NH3 have been shown to be toxic compounds. Moreover, NH3 is also a precursor in the formation of atmospheric secondary aerosols. For that reason, real-time vehicular emissions from a series of Euro 5 and Euro 6 light-duty vehicles, including spark...

The number of registrations of light duty hybrid electric vehicles has systematically increased over the last years and it is expected to keep growing. Hence, evaluation of their emissions becomes very important in order to be able to anticipate their impact and share in the total emissions from the transport sector. For that reason the emissions f...

The use of selective catalytic reduction systems (SCR) to abate NOx vehicular emissions brings new concerns on the emissions of the byproducts NH3 and N2O. Therefore, NH3 and N2O on-road emissions from a Euro V truck equipped with a SCR were measured in real time using a QCL-IR. Results bring to light possibility to perform this kind of real time m...

Emission inventories are used to quantify sources and identify trends in the emissions of air pollutants. They use vehicle-specific emission factors that are typically determined in the laboratory, through remote-sensing, vehicle chasing experiments and, more recently, on-board measurements with Portable Emission Measurement Systems (PEMS). Althoug...

Incentives to use biofuels may result in increasing vehicular emissions of compounds detrimental to air quality. Therefore, regulated and unregulated emissions from a Euro 5a flex-fuel vehicle, tested using E85 and E75 blends (gasoline containing 85% and 75% of ethanol (vol/vol), respectively), were investigated at 22 and -7C over the New European...

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...

Regulated and unregulated emissions from a Euro 5a flex-fuel vehicle tested with nine different hydrous and anhydrous ethanol containing fuel blends at 23 and −7 °C over the World harmonized Light-duty vehicle Test Cycle and the New European Driving Cycle, were investigated at the Vehicle Emission Laboratory at the European Commission Joint Researc...

A study aiming to measure ammonia emissions from light duty vehicles has been performed in the Vehicle Emission Laboratory at the European Commission Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy. Ammonia, known for being toxic and dangerous for the environment, also contributes to the formation of particulate matter that has been related with adverse health...

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...

3-Benzyl-5-methyl-1,3-oxazolidine-3,4-diones react with Grignard reactants and with lithium alkyls to yield 4-substituted 3-benzyl-4-hydroxy-5-methyl-1,3-oxazolidine-2-ones. The reaction is stereoselective and follows Cram's rule.