Conversion from mileage to CO2 emissions

Performing the carbon balance for the combustion of a general mixture of hydrocarbons it is
possible to obtain:
nb = nCO2 + nCO + nHC ,

(1)

Where nb is the number of fuel moles, nCO2, nCO e nHC are respectively the number of mole of CO2,
CO e HC at the exhaust. It is worth noticing that equation (1) is still valid if either the mole per
second or the mole per distance are taken into account. Therefore, in this case, the generic ni will be
calculated in terms of kmol/km.
In order to calculate the pollutant emission in terms of kg/km, equation (1) should be
modified as follow:
nb = (mCO2 / CO2) + (mCO / CO) + (mHC / HC),

(2)

Where mi is the production rate for the generic pollutant (kg/km) and i is the correspondent molar
mass in kg/kmol. Then, the mass of burned fuel per kilometer can be calculated as follow:
mb = nb b = [(mCO2 / CO2) + (mCO / CO) + (mHC / HC)] b,

(3)

Where mb is the fuel consumption per kilometer kg/km and b is the fuel molar mass in kg/kmol.
To calculate the fuel consumption in l/km, it is necessary to divide equation (3) by the fuel
density.
Vb = nb b / b = [(mCO2 / CO2) + (mCO / CO) + (mHC / HC)] b / b,

(4)

Where Vb is the fuel consumption in l/km e b is the fuel density in kg/dm3. To obtain the fuel
economy in terms of l/100km, equation (4) should be multiplied by 100 while to use the emission of
CO2, CO e HC in g/km, it is necessary to divide by 1000.
Finally, the fuel economy of the vehicle could be calculated through the following relation:
Vb|(l/100km) = 0.1 [(mCO2 / CO2) + (mCO / CO) + (mHC / HC)] b / b,

(5)

With mi in g/km, i in kg/kmol and b in kg/dm3.

Introducing in equation (5) the following data:
b = 13.896 kg/kmol,
CO2 = 44 kg/kmol,
CO = 28 kg/kmol,
HC = b,
it is possible to obtain:
Vb|(l/100km) = (0.0316 mCO2 + 0.0496 mCO + 0.1 mHC)] / b.

(6)