View all text of Subpart F [§ 1036.501 - § 1036.580]

§ 1036.550 - Calculating greenhouse gas emission rates.

Link to an amendment published at 89 FR 29763, Apr. 22, 2024.

This section describes how to calculate official emission results for CO2, CH4, and N2O.

(a) Calculate brake-specific emission rates for each applicable duty cycle as specified in 40 CFR 1065.650. Apply infrequent regeneration adjustment factors as described in § 1036.580.

(b) Adjust CO2 emission rates calculated under paragraph (a) of this section for measured test fuel properties as specified in this paragraph (b). This adjustment is intended to make official emission results independent of differences in test fuels within a fuel type. Use good engineering judgment to develop and apply testing protocols to minimize the impact of variations in test fuels.

(1) Determine your test fuel's mass-specific net energy content, Emfuelmeas, also known as lower heating value, in MJ/kg, expressed to at least three decimal places. Determine Emfuelmeas as follows:

(i) For liquid fuels, determine Emfuelmeas according to ASTM D4809 (incorporated by reference in § 1036.810). Have the sample analyzed by at least three different labs and determine the final value of your test fuel's Emfuelmeas as the median all the lab test results you obtained. If you have results from three different labs, we recommend you screen them to determine if additional observations are needed. To perform this screening, determine the absolute value of the difference between each lab result and the average of the other two lab results. If the largest of these three resulting absolute value differences is greater than 0.297 MJ/kg, we recommend you obtain additional results prior to determining the final value of Emfuelmeas.

(ii) For gaseous fuels, determine Emfuelmeas according to ASTM D3588 (incorporated by reference in § 1036.810).

(2) Determine your test fuel's carbon mass fraction, wC, as described in 40 CFR 1065.655(d), expressed to at least three decimal places; however, you must measure fuel properties rather than using the default values specified in Table 1 of 40 CFR 1065.655.

(i) For liquid fuels, have the sample analyzed by at least three different labs and determine the final value of your test fuel's wC as the median of all of the lab results you obtained. If you have results from three different labs, we recommend you screen them to determine if additional observations are needed. To perform this screening, determine the absolute value of the difference between each lab result and the average of the other two lab results. If the largest of these three resulting absolute value differences is greater than 1.56 percent carbon, we recommend you obtain additional results prior to determining the final value of wC.

(ii) For gaseous fuels, have the sample analyzed by a single lab and use that result as your test fuel's wC.

(3) If, over a period of time, you receive multiple fuel deliveries from a single stock batch of test fuel, you may use constant values for mass-specific energy content and carbon mass fraction, consistent with good engineering judgment. To use these constant values, you must demonstrate that every subsequent delivery comes from the same stock batch and that the fuel has not been contaminated.

(4) Correct measured CO2 emission rates as follows:

Where: eCO2 = the calculated CO2 emission result. Emfuelmeas = the mass-specific net energy content of the test fuel as determined in paragraph (b)(1) of this section. Note that dividing this value by wCmeas (as is done in this equation) equates to a carbon-specific net energy content having the same units as EmfuelCref. EmfuelCref = the reference value of carbon-mass-specific net energy content for the appropriate fuel type, as determined in Table 1 in this section. wCmeas = carbon mass fraction of the test fuel (or mixture of test fuels) as determined in paragraph (b)(2) of this section. Example: eCO2 = 630.0 g/hp·hr Emfuelmeas = 42.528 MJ/kg EmfuelCref = 49.3112 MJ/kgC wCmeas = 0.870 eCO2cor = 624.5 g/hp·hr

Table 1 to Paragraph (b)(4) of § 1036.550—Reference Fuel Properties

Fuel type aReference fuel carbon-mass-specific net energy content,
EmfuelCref
(MJ/kgC) b
Reference fuel carbon mass fraction, wCref bDiesel fuel49.31120.874 Gasoline50.47420.846 Natural gas66.29100.750 LPG56.52180.820 Dimethyl ether55.38860.521 High-level ethanol-gasoline blends50.32110.576

a For fuels that are not listed, you must ask us to approve reference fuel properties.

b For multi-fuel streams, such as natural gas with diesel fuel pilot injection, use good engineering judgment to determine blended values for EmfuelCref and wCref using the values in this table.

(c) Your official emission result for each pollutant equals your calculated brake-specific emission rate multiplied by all applicable adjustment factors, other than the deterioration factor.