Evaluation of the Efficiency of a Double Spark Plug to Improve the Performances of Combustion Engines: Pressure Measurement and Plasma Investigations

Plasma Chemistry and Plasma Processing - The ignition sparks provided by the conventional spark plug (CSP) do not always ensure a fast and complete combustion of the hydrocarbon–air mixture....     

An Analysis of Exhaust Emission of the Internal Combustion Engine Treated by the Non-Thermal Plasma

Industries’ air pollution causes serious challenges to modern society, among them exhaust gases from internal combustion engines, which are currently one of the main sources. This study proposes a non-thermal plasma (NTP) system for placement in the exhaust system of internal combustion engines to reduce the toxic contaminants (HC, CO, and NO_x) of exhaust gases. This NTP system generates a high-voltage discharge that not only responds to the ion chemical reaction to eliminate NO_x and CO, but that also generates a combustion reaction at the local high temperature of plasma to reduce HC. The NTP system was designed on both the front and rear of the exhaust pipe to analyze the difference of different exhaust flow rates under the specified frequency. The results indicate that the NTP system can greatly reduce toxic contaminants. The NTP reactor placed in the front of exhaust pipe gave HC and CO removal efficiency of about 34.5% and 16.0%, respectively, while the NTP reactor placed in the rear of exhaust pipe gave NO_x removal efficiency of about 41.3%. In addition, the voltage and material directly affect the exhaust gases obviously. In conclusion, the proposed NTP system installed in the exhaust system can significantly reduce air pollutants. These results suggest that applying NTP to the combustion engine should be a useful tool to simultaneously reduce both emissions of NO_x and CO.     

掺烧MTBE对电喷汽油机排放特性的影响

将增氧剂甲基叔丁基醚（MTBE）按一定比例添加到90#无铅汽油中，在汽油机台架上，考查了不同掺混比的MTBE/ 汽油混合燃料对电喷汽油机排放特性的影响及三效催化器的净化性能。 实验结果表明, 电喷汽油机掺烧MTBE后，只是在负荷很小时对CO排放有明显改善，而在其他工况下，CO排放改善效果不明显，甚至有所恶化；低速时对碳氢化合物（THC）和 NOx 排放有所改善;中速和高速时的改善效果不明显。催化转化器对CO和THC转化率均能达到70%~99%，对 NOx 的催化转化率相对低一些，为12%~55%。三效催化器的转化率与燃料中MTBE的体积分数、汽油机转速和负荷有关。     

Application of Plasma Fuel Reformer to an On-Board Diesel Burner

A conventional diesel burner has arisen several shortcomings, such a large supply of air for a stoichiometric combustion, and a long heat-up time to reach the light-off temperature of catalyst in a diesel after-treatment system. This study shows a promising potential of using a plasma reformer for staged diesel combustion with minimized air and fuel consumption, and increased the flame stability with low NOx emission. A working principle of a plasma fuel reformer for staged combustion is explained in detail by both visualizing the plasma-assisted flame and analyzing the gas products. The concentrations of H₂, CO, NOx and the unburned total hydrocarbons were measured by gas chromatography and a commercial gas analyzer. Considering the operating condition of diesel exhaust gas is too harsh to maintain a stable diesel flame with a conventional diesel burner, plasma fuel reformer has distinctive advantages in stable flame anchoring under the condition of low oxygen concentration and fast flow speed. The re-ignition and stable flame anchoring by entrapment of oxygen in exhaust gas is mainly attributed to the low ignition energy and high diffusion velocity of hydrogen molecule. From an economic point of view, plasma reformer is also the only technology which can use only 1/3–1/8 of the air required for the stoichiometric burning of a conventional diesel burner. A conventional burner was simulated and analyzed to consume up to 30 % more fuel compared to the plasma reformer with the staged combustion to get the same level of temperature elevation in a real diesel engine scale.     

柴油机尾气净化催化剂的最新研究进展

柴油机尾气排放的污染物已经引起了严重的环境污染问题,催化净化技术是柴油机尾气污染治理必不可少和最有效的处理技术之一,而高效催化剂的研制和开发是催化净化技术的核心.本文以柴油机尾气中最难处理的两种污染物NOx和碳烟颗粒(PM)的催化处理技术为主线,综述了NOx的催化还原(选择性催化还原(SCR)和贮存还原(NSR))催化剂、碳烟的催化燃烧催化剂、NOx和碳烟颗粒同时消除的催化剂及柴油机尾气四效催化剂的最新研究进展,并总结性地提出了目前该研究方向存在的主要问题和发展方向.     

Physicochemical properties of ceramic tape involving Ca<Subscript>0.05</Subscript> Ba<Subscript>0.95</Subscript> Ce<Subscript>0.9</Subscript>Y<Subscript>0.1</Subscript>O<Subscript>3</Subscript> as an electrolyte designed for electrolyte-supported solid oxide fuel cells (IT-SOFCs)

Energetic materials such as a mixture of guanidine nitrate (GN)/basic copper nitrate (BCN) are used as gas generators in automotive airbag systems. However, at the time of the airbag inflation, the gas generators release toxic combustion gases such as CO, NH₃, and NO_x. In this study, we investigated the combustion and thermal decomposition behaviors of GN/BCN mixture, focusing primarily on their exhaust gas composition. As a result, when the exhaust gas of the combustion under constant pressure in an inert gas stream was analyzed using a detection tube, the amount of NO_x (mainly NO) yielded greater decrease with increasing atmospheric pressure as compared to the amounts of CO and NH₃. Thus, provided GN/BCN is ignited in a closed container, a large amount of NO_x is presumed to have been released during the initial stage of combustion, which yielded comparatively low pressure. Results of the thermogravimetry–differential scanning calorimetry–Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (TG/DSC/FTIR) indicated that the GN/BCN mixture caused endothermic decomposition at 170 °C and exothermic decomposition at 208 °C, which was accompanied by 66% mass loss. The decomposition gases, CO₂, N₂O, and H₂O, were detected via FTIR spectrum. Because N₂O was not detected in the combustion gas, it was suggested that the detected N₂O was generated at a low temperature and decomposed in high-temperature combustion.     

Analysis of low molecular weight hydrocarbons including 1,3-butadiene in engine exhaust gases using an aluminum oxide porous-layer open-tubular fused-silica column.

A method for the quantitative analysis of individual hydrocarbons in the C1-C8 range emitted in engine exhaust gases is described. The procedure provides base-line or near base-line resolution of C4 components including 1,3-butadiene. With a run time of less than 50 min, the light aromatics (benzene, toluene, ethyl benzene, p- and m-xylene, and o-xylene) are resolved during the same analysis as aliphatic hydrocarbons in the C1-C8 range. It is shown that typical 1,3-butadiene levels in engine exhaust are about 5 ppm at each of two engine conditions. Aromatic hydrocarbon levels show a dependence on engine operating conditions, benzene being about 20 ppm at high speed and about 40 ppm at idle.     

High resolution gas chromatographic determination of the atmospheric reactivity of engine-out hydrocarbon emissions from a spark-ignited engine

The reactivities of engine-out exhaust hydrocarbon (HC) emissions in photochemical smog formation have been determined for three fuels (isooctane, an aromatic blend, and a gasoline) in a single-cylinder, spark-ignited engine. High resolution capillary GC was used to determine the mole fractions of the exhaust hydrocarbon species. Temperature programmed chromatography on a single capillary column was sufficient to separate the major exhaust species. A library of approximately 160 hydrocarbon species was used to identify typically 90–95 % of the HC species present. GC-MS was used selectively to verify peak assignments. The effect of engine operating parameters (fuel-to-air ratio, spark timing, and speed) on reactivity was examined. Engine operating parameters affect both total emissions [g/mile] and the specific atmospheric reactivity [g ozone/g HC emissions] of these emissions. Changing the operating parameters to control total emissions may not be as effective as expected in controlling the total reactivity [g ozone/mile] of the emissions because the specific reactivity can also change simultaneously. Effects of changes in operating parameters differ significantly as the type of fuel is varied. The ability to measure exhaust hydrocarbon species emissions accurately and quickly will increase in importance as reactivity-based emissions standards come into widespread use.     

TG–FTIR analysis of oxidation kinetics of some solid fuels under oxy-fuel conditions

A possible technology that can contribute reduction of carbon dioxide emission is oxy-fuel combustion of fossil fuels enabling to increase CO₂ concentration in the exhaust gas by carrying out the combustion process with oxygen and replacing air nitrogen with recycling combustion products to obtain a capture-ready CO₂ stream. The laboratory studies and pilot-scale experiments discussed during the last years have indicated that oxy-fuel combustion is a favorable option in retrofitting conventional coal firing. Estonian oil shale (OS) with its specific properties has never been studied as a fuel in oxy-fuel combustion, so, the aim of the present research was to compare thermo-oxidation of OS and some coal samples under air and oxy-fuel combustion conditions by means of thermal analysis methods. Experiments were carried out in Ar/O₂ and CO₂/O₂ atmospheres with two oil shale and two coal samples under dynamic heating conditions. FTIR analysis was applied to characterize evolved gases and emission dynamics. Kinetic parameters of oxidation were calculated using a model-free kinetic analysis approach based on differential iso-conversional methods. Comparison of the oxidation characteristics of the samples was given in both atmospheres and it was shown that the oxidation process proceeds under oxy-fuel conditions by all studied fuels with lower activation energies, however, it can last longer as the same temperatures are compared.     

Development and characterization of a mobile photoacoustic sensor for on-line soot emission monitoring in diesel exhaust gas

Upcoming regulations for vehicle exhaust emission demand substantial reduction of particle emission in diesel exhaust. To achieve these emission levels, the car manufacturing industry is developing new combustion concepts and exhaust after-treatment techniques such as the use of catalysts and particle filters. Many of the state-of-the-art analytical instruments do not meet the required detection limits, in combination with a high temporal resolution necessary for engine optimization. This paper reports a new detection system and the first results of its application to on-line diesel exhaust soot measurements on a engine test bench (MAN diesel engine facility Nürnberg, Germany). The instrument is based on differential photoacoustic (PA) spectroscopy of black carbon aerosol. It contains two identical PA cells, one for the measurement of the aerosol particles and one which analyses the particle-free gas. Thus, a potential cross-sensitivity to gaseous absorbers in the exhaust gas can be excluded. The PA cells were characterized in a laboratory set-up, with water vapor as reference gas and artificial soot generated by a spark discharge generator. The detection limit was found to be 2 microg m(-3) BC (for diesel soot) with a sampling rate of 3 Hz. The temporal response of the system was found to be in the order of 1 s. After full characterization of the cells, the system was transferred into a mobile 19"-rack. Characterization of the mobile sensor system under real-world conditions was performed during several measurement campaigns at an engine test bench for heavy-duty diesel engines. Results for the limit of detection, the time resolution, accuracy, repeatability, and robustness of the sensor system are very promising with regards to a routine application of the system in engine development.     

燃料特性对车用柴油机有害排放的影响

研究了车用柴油机燃用不同品质燃油时,其排气烟度、颗粒PM、氮氧化物NO_x、碳氢HC和一氧化碳的排放特性,采用了五种不同硫含量、芳烃含量和十六烷值的柴油,进行了发动机台架实验和模拟整车NEDC循环实验。结果表明,随着燃油硫含量的减少,柴油机排气烟度、HC、CO、SO₂排放有所下降;模拟整车NEDC循环的PM排放显著降低;NO_x排放的变化幅度很小。随着燃油芳烃含量的降低,柴油机排气烟度、PM、NO_x、HC、CO排放的降幅显著。随着燃油十六烷值的升高,柴油机的排气烟度大都呈持续下降趋势;PM、HC排放显著降低;NO_x、CO排放的变化幅度较小。     

Analysis of petrol and diesel vapour and vehicle engine exhaust gases using selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry

We have used selected ion flow tube mass spectrometry (SIFT-MS) to analyse the vapours emitted by petrol and diesel fuels and the exhaust gases from petrol (spark ignition) and diesel (compression ignition) engine vehicles fitted with catalytic converters. Only those components of these media that have significant vapour pressures at ambient temperatures were analysed and thus particulates were obviously not detected. These media have been analysed using the full scope of SIFT-MS, i.e., with the three available precursor ions H3O+, NO+ and O2+. The combination of the H3O+ and NO+ analyses is seen to be essential to distinguish between different product ions at the same mass-to-charge ratio (m/z) especially in identifying aldehydes in the exhaust gases. The O2+ precursor ions are used to detect and quantify the large amount of nitric oxide present in the exhaust gases from both engine types. The petrol and diesel vapours consist almost exclusively of aliphatic alkanes, alkenes and alkynes (and dienes) and aromatic hydrocarbons. Some of these compounds appear in the exhaust gases together with several aldehydes, viz. formaldehyde, acetaldehyde, pentanal, pentenal (acrolein), butenal, and also methanol and ethanol. Acetone, nitric oxide and ammonia are also present, acetone and nitric oxide being much more abundant in the diesel exhaust gas than in the petrol exhaust gas. These data were obtained from samples collected into pre-evacuated stainless steel vessels. Trapping of the volatile compounds from the gas samples is not required and analysis was completed a few minutes later. All the above compounds are detected simultaneously, which demonstrates the value of SIFT-MS in this area of research.     

Sulfur impact on diesel emission control- A review

The effect of sulfur on diesel emission control is reviewed in this paper. Diesel exhaust differs from that of petrol engine exhaust in two major characteristics. Firstly, diesel exhaust contains a far higher amount of particulate matter, and secondly, the exhaust is far leaner, that is, far more oxidizing than a typical exhaust from petrol engines. Under these conditions, the conventional three-way catalysts are not effective in reducing NO_x . Emission from diesel engines is a complex phenomenon. The composition, the properties and the amount of these emissions depend on strictly technical parameters such as engine design and engine operation characteristics and on fuel and lube oil composition. Diesel fuel contains a small amount of sulfur which has an adverse effect even on the raw particulate emissions. The investigations on the effect of sulfur on hydrocarbons, CO and NO_x abatement in diesel exhaust gas is reviewed together with the newest technologies to avoid catalyst deactivation by unwanted SO₂ reactions.     

Recent Development of Technology in Scale-up of Plasma Reactors for Environmental and Energy Applications

To date, numerous studies have investigated the aftertreatment of exhaust gases from fossil-fueled combustors and combustion engines by plasmas as an environmental plasma application. Owing to the high power requirements of environmental plasma, it is difficult to use the plasma alone for aftertreatment; hence, a hybrid process that combines plasma processing with other techniques is required to reduce the overall power consumption. In developing countries, low-cost plasma hybrid processing has attracted considerable attention as an alternative to the selective catalytic reduction NO_x decomposition (De-NO_x) method and wet lime–gypsum SO_x decomposition method. Moreover, reduced catalytic activity can be enhanced by the plasma because of the decreased exhaust gas temperature, owing to the increased combustion efficiency. This paper reviews studies on successful air pollutant decomposition processes using the plasma chemical process with scale-up reactors. First, experimental techniques and block diagrams of various environmental plasma systems are presented. Subsequently, real-world systems of scale-up plasma reactors are described in detail. Several experimental results suggest that the hybrid treatment of particulate matter and dry De-NO_x is very promising from the viewpoint of energy consumption and material recycling. CO₂ treatment is a very important direction for future work in environmental plasma.

     

Reductive and oxidative combustion of polyethylene bags: Characterization of carbonaceous and nitrogenous species

This study aims to experimentally characterize the gaseous carbonaceous and nitrogenous species from the reductive and oxidant combustion of polyethylene plastic bags. The experimental device used is the tubular furnace, coupled to two gas analyzers: a Fourier transform infrared analyzer (FTIR) and a non dispersive infrared analyzer (NDIR). The gaseous products analyzed are: CO, CO₂, CH₄, C₃H₈, C₂H₄, C₂H₂, C₆H₆, HCN, N₂O, NO, NO₂ and NH₃. The experiments were conducted at temperatures ranging from 800 to 1000 °C. The results obtained allow us to note that carbonaceous compounds are mainly emitted as carbon oxides (CO and CO₂) whether you are reductive combustion or oxidative combustion.In addition:

• -Under reductive conditions, combustion is controlled by oxygen. The hydrocarbon most active in the formation of carbon monoxide is ethylene (C₂H₄) and to a lesser extent, from 900 °C, acetylene (C₂H₂). The extents we have made show that ammonia seem to be emitted during combustion with 10% of oxygen.
• -In an oxidative environment, there is production of C₆H₆ in substantial quantities, which partly explains the presence of soot and tar in the smoke exhaust ducts. The C₂H₄, CH₄ and C₂H₂ are hydrocarbons most active in the formation of CO and CO₂. Increasing of concentration of local oxygen from 10 to 21% for the combustion of plastic bags, favors an increase in efficiency of carbon conversion about 30%. About 99% of the carbon of the fuel is found to be converted to carbon oxides or hydrocarbons. Nitrogen monoxide (NO) is the major component among the gases measured with a conversion rate of nitrogen about 20%, three times larger than that obtained during the reductive combustion of plastic bags with 10% oxygen.

     

Effects of Magnetic Nanofluid Fuel Combustion on the Performance and Emission Characteristics

Although the compression ignition engines are a significant source of power, their detrimental emissions create considerable problems to the environment as well as to humans. The objective of the present experimental investigation is to examine the effects of the magnetic nanofluid fuels on combustion performance characteristics and exhaust emissions. In this regard, the Fe₃O₄ nanoparticles dispersed in the diesel fuel with the nanoparticle concentrations of 0.4 and 0.8 vol% were employed for combustion in a single-cylinder, direct-injection diesel engine. After a series of experiments, it was demonstrated that the nanoparticle additives, even at very low concentrations, have considerable influence in diesel engine characteristics. Furthermore, the results indicated that the nanofluid fuel with nanoparticle concentration of 0.4 vol% shows better combustion characteristics in comparison with that of 0.8 vol%. Based on the experimental results, NO _x and SO₂ emissions dramatically reduce, while CO emissions and smoke opacity noticeably increase with increasing the dosing level of nanoparticles.     

Source identification and long-term monitoring of airborne particulate matter (PM<Subscript>2.5</Subscript>/PM<Subscript>10</Subscript>) in an urban region of Korea

Summary For the identification of air pollution sources, about 500 airborne particulate matter (PM_2.5and PM₁₀) samples were collected by using a Gent air sampler and a polycarbonate filter in an urban region in the middle of Korea from 2000 to 2003. The concentrations of 25 elements in the samples were measured by using instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA). Receptor modeling was performed on the air monitoring data by using the positive matrix factorization (PMF2) method. According to this analysis, the existence of 6 to 10PMF factors, such as metal-alloy, oil combustion, diesel exhaust, coal combustion, gasoline exhaust, incinerator, Cu-smelter, biomass burning, sea-salt, and soil dust were identified.     

Polytrimethylsilylpropyne as adsorbent for separation of gases

Polytrimethylpropyne supported on a solid substrate was proposed as a chromatographic adsorbent for the separation of hydrocarbon gases. The heats of adsorption of hydrocarbon gases were determined. The efficiency of application of this sorbent for the selective separation of C₁--C₄ hydrocarbon gases in packed columns was demonstrated.     

Emission of Toxic HCN During NOx Removal by Ammonia SCR in the Exhaust of Lean‐Burn Natural Gas Engines

Reducing greenhouse gas and pollutant emissions is one of the most stringent priorities of our society to minimize their dramatic effects on health and environment. Natural gas (NG) engines, in particular at lean conditions, emit less CO₂ in comparison to combustion engines operated with liquid fuels but NG engines still require emission control devices for NO_x removal. Using state‐of‐the‐art technologies for selective catalytic reduction (SCR) of NO_x with NH₃, we evaluated the interplay of the reducing agent NH₃ and formaldehyde, which is always present in the exhaust of NG engines. Our results show that a significant amount of highly toxic hydrogen cyanide (HCN) is formed. All catalysts tested partially convert formaldehyde to HCOOH and CO. Additionally, they form secondary emissions of HCN due to catalytic reactions of formaldehyde and its oxidation intermediates with NH₃. With the present components of the exhaust gas aftertreatment system the HCN emissions are not efficiently converted to non‐polluting gases. The development of more advanced catalyst formulations with improved oxidation activity is mandatory to solve this novel critical issue.     

Current developments in CO2 hydrogenation towards methanol: A review related to industrial application

Regarding the still increasing CO₂ emissions and the accompanied imminent climate change, utilization of CO₂-containing exhaust gases is one of the major opportunities to lower CO₂ emissions while obtaining valuable products in parallel. Methanol as one of today's key platform chemicals can be industrially produced from these exhaust gases by heterogeneously catalyzed CO₂ hydrogenation. This review elaborates why the Cu/ZnO/Al₂O₃ catalyst is still the most promising candidate to catalyze CO₂ hydrogenation from exhaust gases to reduce CO₂ emissions in the short term. It emphasizes catalyst lifetime and deactivation as well as catalyst poisoning, which are significant factors considering the use of impurity-containing exhaust gases. Besides modifications of the Cu/ZnO system, completely different catalysts are discussed regarding their usability and comparability to the conventional Cu/ZnO/Al₂O₃ catalyst.