Determination of fuel characteristics and their influence on exhaust gas emissions during operation of an internal combustion engine

A method for determining a deviation of a fuel quality from a reference quality and for determining a change in exhaust gas emissions caused by this deviation by evaluating pressure waves in a fuel system of an internal combustion engine outfitted with one of a discontinuous fuel delivery and a fuel take-off, the method comprising:

• detecting pressure oscillations in the fuel system during operation by at least one sensor;
• determining at least one of a fuel type and the deviation from a reference fuel quality by analyzing the detected pressure oscillations in an electronic monitoring unit;
• and
• at least one of:
• determining, from the deviation from a reference fuel quality, deviations of the untreated emissions of the internal combustion engine from the untreated emissions occurring when using the reference fuel,
• determining, from the deviation from the reference fuel quality, influences on the behavior of an aftertreatment system downstream of the internal combustion engine, which behavior is changes in comparison to the operation with the reference fuel,
• changing service intervals when a deviation from the reference fuel quality is determined,
• changing engine oil change intervals when a deviation from the reference fuel quality is determined
• displaying information about use of a fuel deviating from the reference fuel,
• displaying the changed service interval,
• changing operating parameters of the internal combustion engine, and
• changing operating parameters of the exhaust gas aftertreatment system downstream of the internal combustion engine.