The effects of fuel characteristics and engine operating conditions on elemental composition of emissions from twelve heavy duty diesel buses have been investigated. Two types of diesel fuels - low sulfur diesel (LSD) and ultra low sulfur diesel (ULSD) fuels with 500 ppm and 50 ppm sulfur contents respectively and 3 driving modes corresponding to 25%, 50% and 100% power were used. Elements present in the tailpipe emissions were quantified by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) and those found in measurable quantities included Mg, Ca, Cr, Fe, Cu, Zn, Ti, Ni, Pb, Be, P, Se, Ti and Ge. Multivariate analyses using multi-criteria decision making methods (MCDM), principal component analysis (PCA) and partial least squares (PLS) facilitated the extraction of information about the structure of the data. MCDM showed that the emissions of the elements were strongly influenced by the engine driving conditions while the PCA loadings plots showed that the emission factors of the elements were correlated with those of other pollutants such as particle number, total suspended particles, CO, CO2 and NOx Partial least square analysis revealed that the emission factors of the elements were strongly dependent on the fuel parameters such as the fuel sulfur content, fuel density, distillation point and cetane index. Strong correlations were also observed between these pollutants and the engine power or exhaust temperature. The study provides insights into the possible role of fuel sulfur content in the emission of inorganic elements from heavy duty diesel vehicles. (c) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.