Chapter 3: Mobile Combustion
CHAPTER 3
MOBILE COMBUSTION
2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories 3.1
Volume 2: Energy
Authors
O ve rv i e w
Christina Davies Waldron (USA)
Jochen Harnisch (Germany), Oswaldo Lucon (Brazil), R. Scott Mckibbon (Canada), Sharon B. Saile (USA),
Fabian Wagner (Germany), and Michael P. Walsh (USA)
Off -road transporta tion
Christina Davies Waldron (USA)
Jochen Harnisch (Germany), Oswaldo Lucon (Brazil), R. Scott McKibbon (Canada), Sharon Saile (USA),
Fabian Wagner (Germany), and Michael Walsh (USA)
R a i l wa y s
Christina Davies Waldron (USA)
Jochen Harnisch (Germany), Oswaldo Lucon (Brazil), R. Scott McKibbon (Canada), Sharon B. Saile (USA),
Fabian Wagner (Germany), and Michael P. Walsh (USA)
Wa te r-bo rne na viga tion
Lourdes Q. Maurice (USA)
Leif Hockstad (USA), Niklas Höhne (Germany), Jane Hupe (ICAO), David S. Lee (UK), and Kristin Rypdal
(Norway)
Civil avia tion
Lourdes Q. Maurice (USA)
Leif Hockstad (USA), Niklas Höhne (Germany), Jane Hupe (ICAO), David S. Lee (UK), and Kristin Rypdal
(Norway)
Contributing Authors
Road transpo rta tio n, O ff- road transpo rta tio n and Railwa ys
Manmohan Kapshe (India)
Wa te r-bo rne na viga tion and Civil Avia tio n
Daniel M. Allyn (USA), Maryalice Locke (USA, Stephen Lukachko (USA), and Stylianos Pesmajoglou
(UNFCCC)
3.2 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
Volume 2: Energy
3 MOBILE COMBUSTION
3.1 OVERVIEW
Mobile sources produce direct greenhouse gas emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane (CH4) and nitrous
oxide (N2O) from the combustion of various fuel types, as well as several other pollutants such as carbon
monoxide (CO), Non-methane Volatile Organic Compounds (NMVOCs), sulphur dioxide (SO2), particulate
matter (PM) and oxides of nitrate (NOx), which cause or contribute to local or regional air pollution. This
chapter covers good practice in the development of estimates for the direct greenhouse gases CO2, CH4, and N2O.
For indirect greenhouse gases and precursor substances CO, NMVOCs, SO2, PM, and NOx, please refer to
Volume 1 Chapter 7. This chapter does not address non-energy emissions from mobile air conditioning, which is
covered by the IPPU Volume (Volume 3, Chapter 7).
Greenhouse gas emissions from mobile combustion are most easily estimated by major transport activity, i.e.,
road, off-road, air, railways, and water-borne navigation. The source description (Table 3.1.1) shows the
diversity of mobile sources and the range of characteristics that affect emission factors. Recent work has updated
and strengthened the data. Despite these advances more work is needed to fill in many gaps in knowledge of
emissions from certain vehicle types and on the effects of ageing on catalytic control of road vehicle emissions.
Equally, the information on the appropriate emission factors for road transport in developing countries may need
further strengthening, where age of fleet, maintenance, fuel sulphur content, and patterns of use are different
from those in industrialised countries.
TABLE 3.1.1
DETAILED SECTOR SPLIT FOR THE TRANSPORT SECTOR
Code and Name Explanation
1A3 TRANSPORT Emissions from the combustion and evaporation of fuel for all transport
activity (excluding military transport), regardless of the sector, specified
by sub-categories below.
Emissions from fuel sold to any air or marine vessel engaged in
international transport (1 A 3 a i and 1 A 3 d i) should as far as possible be
excluded from the totals and subtotals in this category and should be
reported separately.
1A3 a Civil Aviation Emissions from international and domestic civil aviation, including take-
offs and landings. Comprises civil commercial use of airplanes, including:
scheduled and charter traffic for passengers and freight, air taxiing, and
general aviation. The international/domestic split should be determined on
the basis of departure and landing locations for each flight stage and not
by the nationality of the airline. Exclude use of fuel at airports for ground
transport which is reported under 1 A 3 e Other Transportation. Also
exclude fuel for stationary combustion at airports; report this information
under the appropriate stationary combustion category.
1A3 a i International Aviation Emissions from flights that depart in one country and arrive in a different
(International Bunkers) country. Include take-offs and landings for these flight stages. Emissions
from international military aviation can be included as a separate sub-
category of international aviation provided that the same definitional
distinction is applied and data are available to support the definition.
1A3 a ii Domestic Aviation Emissions from civil domestic passenger and freight traffic that departs
and arrives in the same country (commercial, private, agriculture, etc.),
including take-offs and landings for these flight stages. Note that this may
include journeys of considerable length between two airports in a country
(e.g. San Francisco to Honolulu). Exclude military, which should be
reported under 1 A 5 b.
1A3 b Road Transportation All combustion and evaporative emissions arising from fuel use in road
vehicles, including the use of agricultural vehicles on paved roads.
1A3 b i Cars Emissions from automobiles so designated in the vehicle registering
country primarily for transport of persons and normally having a capacity
of 12 persons or fewer.
1A3 b i 1 Passenger cars with 3- Emissions from passenger car vehicles with 3-way catalysts.
way catalysts
1A3 b i 2 Passenger cars without Emissions from passenger car vehicles without 3-way catalysts.
3-way catalysts
3.8 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
Volume 2: Energy
TABLE 3.1.1(CONTINUED)
DETAILED SECTOR SPLIT FOR THE TRANSPORT SECTOR
Code and Name Explanation
1A5 a Non specified Emissions from fuel combustion in stationary sources that are not
stationary specified elsewhere.
1A5 b Non specified mobile Mobile Emissions from vehicles and other machinery, marine and
aviation (not included in 1 A 4 c ii or elsewhere). Includes emissions
from fuel delivered for aviation and water-borne navigation to the
country's military as well as fuel delivered within that country but used by
the militaries of other countries that are not engaged in.
Multilateral Operations Multilateral operations. Emissions from fuels used for aviation and water-
(Memo item) borne navigation in multilateral operations pursuant to the Charter of the
United Nations. Include emissions from fuel delivered to the military in
the country and delivered to the military of other countries.
3.2 ROAD TRANSPORTATION
The mobile source category Road Transportation includes all types of light-duty vehicles such as automobiles
and light trucks, and heavy-duty vehicles such as tractor trailers and buses, and on-road motorcycles (including
mopeds, scooters, and three-wheelers). These vehicles operate on many types of gaseous and liquid fuels. In
addition to emissions from fuel combustion, emissions associated with catalytic converter use in road vehicles
(e.g., CO2 emissions from catalytic converters using urea) 1 are also addressed in this section.
3.2.1 Methodological Issues
The fundamental methodologies for estimating greenhouse gas emissions from road vehicles, which are
presented in Section 3.2.1.1, have not changed since the publication of the 1996 IPCC Guidelines and the
GPG2000, except that, as discussed in Section 3.2.1.2, the emission factors now assume full oxidation of the fuel.
This is for consistency with the Stationary Combustion Chapter in this Volume. The method for estimating CO2
emissions from catalytic converters using urea, a source of emissions, was not addressed previously.
Estimated emissions from road transport can be based on two independent sets of data: fuel sold (see section
3.2.1.3) and vehicle kilometres. If these are both available it is important to check that they are comparable,
otherwise estimates of different gases may be inconsistent. This validation step (Figure 3.2.1) is described in
sections 3.2.1.3 and 3.2.3. It is good practice to perform this validation step if vehicle kilometre data are
available.
3.2.1.1 C HOICE OF M ETHOD
Emissions can be estimated from either the fuel consumed (represented by fuel sold) or the distance travelled by
the vehicles. In general, the first approach (fuel sold) is appropriate for CO2 and the second (distance travelled by
vehicle type and road type) is appropriate for CH4 and N2O.
CO 2 EM IS SI ONS
Emissions of CO2 are best calculated on the basis of the amount and type of fuel combusted (taken to be equal to
the fuel sold, see section 3.2.1.3) and its carbon content. Figure 3.2.2 shows the decision tree for CO2 that guides
the choice of either the Tier 1 or Tier 2 method. Each tier is defined below.
1
Urea consumption for catalytic converters in vehicles is directly related to the vehicle fuel consumption and technology.
3.10 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
Volume 2: Energy
The Tier 1 approach calculates CO2 emissions by multiplying estimated fuel sold with a default CO2 emission
factor. The approach is represented in Equation 3.2.1.
EQUATION 3.2.1
CO2 FROM ROAD TRANSPORT
Emission = ∑ [Fuela • E Fa ]
a
Where:
Emission = Emissions of CO2 (kg)
Fuela = fuel sold (TJ)
EFa = emission factor (kg/TJ). This is equal to the carbon content of the fuel multiplied by 44/12.
a = type of fuel (e.g. petrol, diesel, natural gas, LPG etc)
The CO2 emission factor takes account of all the carbon in the fuel including that emitted as CO2, CH4, CO,
NMVOC and particulate matter 2 . Any carbon in the fuel derived from biomass should be reported as an
information item and not included in the sectoral or national totals to avoid double counting as the net emissions
from biomass are already accounted for in the AFOLU sector (see section 3.2.1.4 Completeness).
The Tier 2 approach is the same as Tier 1 except that country-specific carbon contents of the fuel sold in road
transport are used. Equation 3.2.1 still applies but the emission factor is based on the actual carbon content of
fuels consumed (as represented by fuel sold) in the country during the inventory year. At Tier 2, the CO2
emission factors may be adjusted to take account of un-oxidised carbon or carbon emitted as a non-CO2 gas.
There is no Tier 3 as it is not possible to produce significantly better results for CO2 than by using the existing
Tier 2. In order to reduce the uncertainties, efforts should concentrate on the carbon content and on improving
the data on fuel sold. Another major uncertainty component is the use of transport fuel for non-road purposes.
CO 2 EM IS SI ONS FROM UR EA- BASED CATA LYSTS
For estimating CO2 emissions from use of urea-based additives in catalytic converters (non-combustive
emissions), it is good practice to use Equation 3.2.2:
EQUATION 3.2.2
CO2 FROM UREA-BASED CATALYTIC CONVERTERS
12 44
Emission = Activity • • Purity •
60 12
Where:
Emissions = CO2 Emissions from urea-based additive in catalytic converters (Gg CO2)
Activity = amount of urea-based additive consumed for use in catalytic converters (Gg)
Purity = the mass fraction (= percentage divided by 100) of urea in the urea-based additive
The factor (12/60) captures the stochiometric conversion from urea (CO(NH2)2) to carbon, while factor (44/12)
converts carbon to CO2. On the average, the activity level is 1 to 3 percent of diesel consumption by the vehicle.
Thirty two and half percent can be taken as default purity in case country-specific values are not available
(Peckham, 2003). As this is based on the properties of the materials used, there are no tiers for this source.
CH 4 AND N 2 O EM ISS ION S
Emissions of CH4 and N2O are more difficult to estimate accurately than those for CO2 because emission factors
depend on vehicle technology, fuel and operating characteristics. Both distance-based activity data (e.g. vehicle-
kilometres travelled) and disaggregated fuel consumption may be considerably less certain than overall fuel sold.
CH4 and N2O emissions are significantly affected by the distribution of emission controls in the fleet. Thus
higher tiers use an approach taking into account populations of different vehicle types and their different
pollution control technologies.
2
Research on carbon mass balances for U.S. light-duty gasoline cars and trucks indicates that “the fraction of solid
(unoxidized) carbon is negligible” USEPA (2004a). This did not address two-stroke engines or fuel types other than
gasoline. Additional discussion of the 100 percent oxidation assumption is included in Section 1.4.2.1 of the Energy
Volume Introduction chapter.
3.12 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
Volume 2: Energy
Both Equation 3.2.4 and 3.2.5 for Tier 2 and 3 methods involves the following steps:
• Step 1: Obtain or estimate the amount of fuel consumed by fuel type for road transportation using national
data (all values should be reported in terajoules; please also refer to Section 3.2.1.3.)
• Step 2: Ensure that fuel data or VKT is split into the vehicle and fuel categories required. It should be taken
into consideration that, typically, emissions and distance travelled each year vary according to the age of the
vehicle; the older vehicles tend to travel less but may emit more CH4 per unit of activity. Some vehicles may
have been converted to operate on a different type of fuel than their original design.
• Step 3: Multiply the amount of fuel consumed (Tier 2), or the distance travelled (Tier 3) by each type of
vehicle or vehicle/control technology, by the appropriate emission factor for that type. The emission factors
presented in the EFDB or Tables 3.2.3 to 3.2.5 may be used as a starting point. However, the inventory
compiler is encouraged to consult other data sources referenced in this chapter or locally available data
before determining appropriate national emission factors for a particular subcategory. Established inspection
and maintenance programmes may be a good local data source.
• Step 4: For Tier 3 approaches estimate cold start emissions.
• Step 5: Sum the emissions across all fuel and vehicle types, including for all levels of emission control, to
determine total emissions from road transportation.
3.2.1.2 C HOICE OF EMISSION FACTORS
Inventory compilers should choose default (Tier 1) or country-specific (Tier 2 and Tier 3) emission factors based
on the application of the decision trees which consider the type and level of disaggregation of activity data
available for their country.
CO 2 EM IS SI ONS
CO2 emission factors are based on the carbon content of the fuel and should represent 100 percent oxidation of
the fuel carbon. It is good practice to follow this approach using country-specific net-calorific values (NCV) and
CO2 emission factor data if possible. Default NCV of fuels and CO2 emission factors (in Table 3.2.1 below) are
presented in Tables 1.2 and 1.4, respectively, of the Introduction Chapter of this Volume and may be used when
country-specific data are unavailable. Inventory compilers are encouraged to consult the IPCC Emission Factor
Database (EFDB, see Volume 1) for applicable emission factors. It is good practice to ensure that default
emission factors, if selected, are appropriate to local fuel quality and composition.
TABLE 3.2.1
ROAD TRANSPORT DEFAULT CO2 EMISSION FACTORS AND
a
UNCERTAINTY RANGES
Fuel Type Default Lower Upper
(kg/TJ)
Motor Gasoline 69 300 67 500 73 000
Gas/ Diesel Oil 74 100 72 600 74 800
Liquefied Petroleum Gases 63 100 61 600 65 600
Kerosene 71 900 70 800 73 700
b
Lubricants 73 300 71 900 75 200
Compressed Natural Gas 56 100 54 300 58 300
Liquefied Natural Gas 56 100 54 300 58 300
Source: Table 1.4 in the Introduction chapter of the Energy Volume.
Notes:
a
Values represent 100 percent oxidation of fuel carbon content.
b
See Box 3.2.4 Lubricants in Mobile Combustion for guidance for uses of
lubricants.
At Tier 1, the emission factors should assume that 100 percent of the carbon present in fuel is oxidized during or
immediately following the combustion process (for all fuel types in all vehicles) irrespective of whether the CO2
3.16 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
Chapter 3: Mobile Combustion
3.2.1.3 C HOICE OF ACTIVITY DATA
Activity data may be provided either by fuel consumption or by vehicle kilometres travelled VKT. Use of
adequate VKT data can be used to check top-down inventories.
FU EL C ONSUM PTION
Emissions from road vehicles should be attributed to the country where the fuel is sold; therefore fuel
consumption data should reflect fuel that is sold within the country’s territories. Such energy data are typically
available from the national statistical agency. In addition to fuel sold data collected nationally, inventory
compilers should collect activity data on other fuels used in that country with minor distributions that are not part
of the national statistics (i.e., fuels that are not widely consumed, including those in niche markets such as
compressed natural gas or biofuels). These data are often also available from the national statistical agency or
they may be accounted for under separate tax collection processes. For Tier 3 methods, the MOBILE or
COPERT models may help develop activity data.
It is good practice to check the following factors (as a minimum) before using the fuel sold data:
• Does the fuel data relate to on-road only or include off-road vehicles as well? National statistics may report
total transportation fuel without specifying fuel consumed by on-road and off-road activities. It is important
to ensure that fuel use data for road vehicles excludes that used for off-road vehicles or machinery (see Off-
Road Transportation Section 3.3). Fuels may be taxed differently based on their intended use. A Road-Taxed
fuel survey may provide an indication of the quantity of fuel sold for on-road use. Typically, the on-road
vehicle fleet and associated fuel sales are better documented than the off-road vehicle population and
activity. This fact should be considered when developing emission estimates.
• Is agricultural fuel use included? Some of this may be stationary use while some will be for mobile sources.
However, much of this will not be on-road use and should not be included here.
• Is fuel sold for transportation uses used for other purposes (e.g., as fuel for a stationary boiler), or vice versa?
For example, in countries where kerosene is subsidized to lower its price for residential heating and cooking,
the national statistics may allocate the associated kerosene consumption to the residential sector even though
substantial amounts of kerosene may have been blended into and consumed with transportation fuels.
• How are biofuels accounted for?
• How are blended fuels reported and accounted for? Accounting for official blends (e.g. addition of 25
percent of ethanol in gasoline) in activity data is straightforward, but if fuel adulteration or tampering (e.g.
spent solvents in gasoline, kerosene in diesel fuel) is prevalent in a country, appropriate adjustments should
be applied to fuel data, taking care to avoid double counting.
• Are the statistics affected by fuel tourism?
• Is there significant fuel smuggling?
• How is the use of lubricants as an additive in 2-stroke fuels reported? It may be included in the road
transport fuel use or may be reported separately as a lubricant (see Box 3.2.4.).
Two alternative approaches are suggested to separate non-road and on-road fuel use:
(1) For each major fuel type, estimate the fuel used by each road vehicle type from vehicle kilometres travelled
data. The difference between this road vehicle total and the apparent consumption is attributed to the off-road
sector; or
(2) The same fuel-specific estimate in (1) is supplemented by a similarly structured bottom-up estimate of off-
road fuel use from a knowledge of the off-road equipment types and their usage. The apparent consumption in
the transportation sector is then disaggregated according to each vehicle type and the off-road sector in
proportion to the bottom-up estimates.
Depending on national circumstances, inventory compilers may need to adjust national statistics on road
transportation fuel use to prevent under- or over-reporting emissions from road vehicles. It is good practice to
adjust national fuel sales statistics to ensure that the data used just reflects on-road use. Where this adjustment is
necessary it is good practice to cross-check with the other appropriate sectors to ensure that any fuel removed
from on-road statistics is added to the appropriate sector, or vice versa.
As validation, and if distance travelled data are available (see below vehicle kilometres travelled), it is good
practice to estimate fuel use from the distance travelled data. The first step (Equation 3.2.6) is to estimate fuel
consumed by vehicle type i and fuel type j.
2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories 3.25
Volume 2: Energy
EQUATION 3.2.6
VALIDATING FUEL CONSUMPTION
Estimated Fuel = ∑ [Vehiclesi, j ,t •Distancei, j ,t • Consumptioni, j ,t ]
i, j ,t
Where:
Estimated Fuel =total estimated fuel use estimated from distance travelled (VKT) data (l)
Vehiclesi,j,t = number of vehicles of type i and using fuel j on road type t
Distancei,j,t = annual kilometres travelled per vehicle of type i and using fuel j on road type t (km)
Consumptioni,j,t = average fuel consumption (l/km) by vehicles of type i and using fuel j on road type t
i = vehicle type (e.g., car, bus)
j = fuel type (e.g. motor gasoline, diesel, natural gas, LPG)
t = type of road (e.g., urban, rural)
If data are not available on the distance travelled on different road types, this equation should be simplified by
removing the “t” the type of road. More detailed estimates are also possible including the additional fuel used
during the cold start phase.
It is good practice to compare the fuel sold statistics used in the Tier 1 approach with the result of equation 3.2.6.
It is good practice to consider any differences and determine which data is of higher quality. Except in rare cases
(e.g. large quantities of fuel sold for off-road uses, extensive fuel smuggling), fuel sold statistics are likely to be
more reliable. This provides an important quality check. Significant differences between the results of two
approaches may indicate that one or both sets of statistics may have errors, and that there is need for further
analysis. Areas of investigation to pursue when reconciling fuel sold statistics and vehicle kilometre travelled
data are listed in Section 3 2.3, Inventory quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC).
Distance travelled data for vehicles by type and fuel are important underpinnings for the higher tier calculations
of CH4 and N2O emissions from road transport. So it may be necessary to adjust the distance travelled data to be
consistent with the fuel sold data before proceeding to estimating emissions of CH4 and N2O. This is especially
important in cases where the discrepancy between the estimated fuel use (Eq 3.2.6) and the statistical fuel sold is
significant compared to the uncertainties in fuel sold statistics. Inventory compilers will have to use their
judgement on the best way of adjusting distance travelled data. This could be done pro rata with the same
adjustment factor applied to all vehicle type and road type classes or, where some data are judged to be more
accurate, different adjustments could be applied to different vehicle types and road types. An example of the
latter could be where the data on vehicle travelled on major highways is believed to be reasonably well known
and on the other hand rural traffic is poorly measured. In any case, the adjustments made for reasons of the
choice of adjustment factor and background data as well as any other checks should be well documented and
reviewed.
V EH I C LE K I LOM E TR ES TR A V E L L ED ( V K T)
While fuel data can be used at Tier 1 for CH4 and N2O, higher tiers also need vehicle kilometres travelled (VKT)
by vehicle type, fuel type and possibly road type as well.
Many countries collect, measure, or otherwise estimate VKT. Often this is done by sample surveys counting
vehicle numbers passing fixed points. These surveys can be automatic or manual and count vehicle numbers by
type of vehicle. There may be differences between the vehicle classification used in the counts and other data
(e.g. tax classes) that also give data on vehicle numbers. In addition they are unlikely to differentiate between
similar vehicle using different fuels (e.g. motor gasoline and diesel cars). Sometimes more detailed information
is also collected (e.g. vehicle speeds as well as numbers) especially where more detailed traffic planning has
been performed. This may only be available for a municipality rather than the whole country. From these traffic
counts, transport authorities can make estimates of the total VKT travelled in a country. Alternatives ways to
determine the mileage are direct surveys of vehicle owners (private and commercial) and use of administrative
records for commercial vehicles, taking care to account for outdated registration records for scrapped vehicles
(Box 3.2.3 provides an approach to estimate the remaining fleets).
Where VKT is estimated in a country it is good practice to use this data, especially to validate the fuel sold data
(see section 3.2.1.4).
3.26 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories
