RESEARCH ARTICLE Criteria and aldehyde emissions from a diesel Euro V engine using diesel/biodiesel blends in Brazil Harlen Feijó Bório 1 & Renato Penteado 1 & Luiz Carlos Daemme 1 & Ricardo Godoi 2 & Marcelo R. Errera 2 & Sergio Machado Corrêa 3 Received: 15 October 2018 /Accepted: 22 January 2019 # Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2019 Abstract The Brazilian legislation does not establish limits or methodology for the measurement of aldehydes in the exhaust of heavy diesel engines. No conclusive studies on aldehyde emissions by such engines have been found in the literature available. This work measured the aldehyde emissions from a P7 diesel cycle engine (EURO V), which was tested on an engine test bench according to ETC (European Transient Cycle) and ESC (European Stationary Cycle) cycles using fuels with 5, 7 and 20% v/v of biodiesel and 10 and 500 ppm of sulphur. The results showed that biodiesel participation in the mixture did not significantly affect the aldehyde emissions of the tested engine and that the emission level generated in the ETC cycle is higher than that obtained with the ESC cycle. The diesel content in the blend was weakly and negatively correlated with the pollutant emissions, and the inverse pattern was observed for biodiesel. This finding indicates that an increase in biodiesel content causes a slight increase in pollutant emissions. Regarding the sulphur content, positive correlations between the sulphur content and particulate matter, NOx, CO and total hydrocarbon emissions were observed. When comparing the test cycles, the results were significantly different, with higher values for the ETC cycle. Keywords Aldehydes . Emission . Diesel . Biodiesel . Sulphur Introduction With the continued increase of the vehicular fleet in large urban centres that result in increased fuel consumption, the monitoring of vehicle emissions should be subject to contin- uous verification. The Brazilian automotive sector, mainly diesel cycle engines, faces a moment of great challenge and opportunity. In 2008, the government published Resolution CONAMA 403, which sig- nificantly impacts manufacturers and engine designers, assem- blers, fuel producers and gas treatment systems generated for the combustion process. Resolution 403 suggests that aldehydes generated by diesel engines should be measured and controlled because they are considered to be harmful to human health and the environment (CONAMA 2008). However, the Emission Control Program by Automotive Vehicles (PROCONVE) does not establish limits or methodology for aldehyde measurements in the exhaust of heavy diesel engines. Regarding biodiesel, the tendency is to increase its share in Brazilian diesel blends (currently at 10%), and its impact on aldehyde generation is an open question. Another relevant issue is the actual use of P7 (EURO V) engines and the re- quirement to test them according to the European Transient Cycle (ETC), while previous generation engines were tested by the European Stationary Cycle (ESC). Being a new subject, even in the international context, the available literature is scarce, and many doubts on this subject remain. Abrantes et al. (2005) performed several emissions tests on diesel vehicles and measured aldehyde emissions. Four cycle diesel vehicles with high mileage were used, and the tests were performed according to the Brazilian Standard NBR 6601. The results indicated that the aldehyde emissions of diesel cycle vehicles are higher than those of Otto cycle vehicles fuelled with gasoline and are similar to those of ve- hicles fuelled with alcohol. Responsible editor: Philippe Garrigues * Sergio Machado Corrêa sergiomc@uerj.br 1 Institutos Lactec, Paraná, PR, Brazil 2 Federal University of Paraná, Curitiba, PR, Brazil 3 Rio de Janeiro State University, Resende, RJ, Brazil Environmental Science and Pollution Research https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-019-04345-5