Objective: To study the genotoxicity of components of diesel engine exhausts with ethanol-diesel blending fuel. To provide scientific arguments to find more economical and less polluted fuels.
Methods: Ames test, comet assay and GC-MS technique were used to test the genotoxicity and 16 kinds of PAHs on diesel engine exhausts with different proportions of ethanol (E0, E5, E10, E20).
Results: Both Ames test and comet assay were positive. It shows that diesel engine exhausts can lead to mutation and DNA damage, especially in pure diesel oil. But the content of 16 kinds of PAHs and DNA damage level decreased in exhausts of E5. With the increase of ethanol proportion in diesel oil, the content of 16 kinds of PAHs and DNA damage level increased.
Conclusion: Compared with pure diesel oil and high proportion of ethanol fuel, E5 can reduce the genotoxicity and the brake specific exhausts of PAHs.