Automotive emissions

Flexible, custom-built analytical system for whole vehicle emissions tests

An analytical system, custom-built by a team at SepSolve, is being used in vehicle emissions tests by Emissions Analytics to carry out whole-vehicle analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) from exhausts, vehicle interiors and tyres. This flexible testing approach is aimed at determining how vehicles as a whole impact the environment.

Emissions Analytics, leading independent testing and data specialists for the automotive industry based in Buckinghamshire, UK, were looking for a way to detect volatile organic compounds (VOCs) down to trace levels in complex sample matrices.

The team at SepSolve collaborated with colleagues at sister company Markes International to design a custom-built system consisting of thermal desorption (TD) and two-dimensional gas chromatography (GC×GC), coupled with time-of-flight mass spectrometry (TOF MS), an electron capture detector (ECD) and a flame ionisation detector (FID). Experts from both companies helped to formulate sampling strategies to measure whole vehicle emissions and they also provide Emissions Analytics with ongoing technical support.