In general, air pollution from mobile sources in Brazil affects mainly the large metropolitan areas. The continuous urbanization trend, observed in Brazil since the early 1960's, has led the major cities to traffic congestion and motor vehicle pollution. In an effort to address this problem, the federal government established, in 1986, the National Emission Control Program, called PROCONVE, to control emissions in such a way as to promote automotive technological development and fuel quality improvements. Initially, the emission control for new light duty vehicles (gasoline and alcohol) was emphasized. In 1993, the limits for new heavy duty vehicles (diesel) were established with the technical established with the technical requirements of an inspection and maintenance program to control in-use vehicles. The paper describes the PROCONVE requirements and the most important aspects related to the automotive technological developments, fuel characteristics and air quality. (A)
Samenvatting