Litre of diesel/petrol - how much CO2?

I was just wondering how much CO2 per litre of petrol or diesel a car produces. I have some figures from

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which states that petrol is 2.32 Kg per litre and Diesel 2.63

I have Googled about and found similar figures.

Is there an "official" figure?

Thanks

Noz

Reply to
Nozza
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Nozza (nozza_again snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

No, because it varies according to how efficiently the fuel is used.

Don't forget that one of the effects of a catalytic converter is to convert CO into CO2.

Reply to
Adrian

The message from Adrian contains these words:

These days, the actual output of the exhaust is almost entirely CO2 and H2O, with some NOx but that doesn't play a part in the carbon balance.

Thus it doesn't really matter how efficient the engine is - the amount of C( released from the tailpipe will be near enough the same.

Reply to
Guy King

Not entirely correct. Diesel is a heavier fuel which has a higher proportion of carbon, hence the higher CO2 output for diesel.

Any carbon will eventually be oxidised to CO2 with the exception of a very small proportion of unburnt hydrocarbons.

However the diesel engine is generally more efficient so the CO2 emissions tend to be comparable per mile.

One very big difference which is nearly always forgotten is that lead free petrol is made from cracked oil which itself consumes a modest quantity of oil in the process and hence an additional quantity of unaccounted amount of CO2 is released into the atmosphere.

Reply to
Fred

The message from "Fred" contains these words:

Yeah, but the question was about how much CO2 is given off by burning a litre of each fuel. Provided combustion is complete, either in the engine or susequently in the cat, the efficiency doesn't enter into it.

Grammes of CO2/km, that's different, but grammes of CO2/litre is fixed if you assume no combustibles in the exhaust.

Reply to
Guy King

Just to clarily

There is a difference between fuel types

But other than that, engine efficiency is not a variable if measured as C02 / litre.

Reply to
OG

Guy King ( snipped-for-privacy@zetnet.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

Yes, it does.

Because combustion naturally has CO as a byproduct, but that's oxidised to CO2 in the cat.

Reply to
Adrian

But we're talking of parts per million - does it really matter?

Reply to
Fred

Fred ( snipped-for-privacy@n0spam.cm) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

There's rather a lot of millions of parts...

Reply to
Adrian

The message from Adrian contains these words:

That's what I said!

Reply to
Guy King

Do does that mean I can't poison myself with exhaust fumes from a modern car with a cat? Having a 15 year old car, I still get that asphyxiating smell of fumes when I park the car in the garage at night. Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I am not clued up on chemistry or physics and Wikipedia is a bit confusing for me tiny 'ead.

bucket

Reply to
bucket

bucket ( snipped-for-privacy@nospam.co.uk) gurgled happily, sounding much like they were saying :

There's no CO, but I still wouldn't want to be breathing a garage full of exhaust fumes...

Reply to
Adrian

CO is completely odourless. That's why it's so dangerous.

Tony

Reply to
Tony Brett

Not to mention the toxic Sulphur Dioxide..

Reply to
PC Paul

It all depends if the cat has warmed up to operating temperature. If not it'll be producing CO as per old pre-cat car - probably even more due to the reduced inefficiency of having a cat.

Reply to
Fred

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