UNIT IV

CONTROL OF EMISSION FROM SI

AND CI ENGINES
TOPICS
• Design of engine, optimum selection of operating variables for control of emissions,
• EGR
• THERMAL REACTORS
• SECONDARY AIR INJECTION
• CATALYTIC CONVERTERS, CATALYS
• FUEL MODIFICATION
• fuel cells
• two stroke engine pollution controls
• Supply of fuel – establishment of national test centers
• construction of road networks.
• ALTERNATE FUELS
• Estimation of petroleum reserve– need for alternate fuels – Merits & Demerits and uses of CNG,
LPG, Alcohols, Hydrogen, Bio-fuels, Electric Energy,
• Solar Energy
• Noise control & vibration control – muffler
Design changes:

• The effects of engine design and operating variables on exhaust

emission were discussed in a detailed manner already.
EMISSION CONTROL BY ENGINE VARIABLES
• FUEL INJECTION VARIABLES
• Fuel injection and air motion in the cylinder are key parameters to achieve rapid fuel-air
mixing.
• The following strategy is adopted to improve fuel air mixing and the diesel engine
combustion, which leads to reduction both in the soot and NOx formation:
• Use of high fuel injection pressures and smaller nozzle hole size to produce very fine fuel
• atomization for rapid fuel evaporation and mixing with air.
• Fuel spray not to impinge on walls but fuel to be distributed mainly within the air inside the
• combustion chamber.
• Matching of injection spray configuration and development with in-cylinder air motion for
rapid
• fuel-air mixing throughout the injection duration period
• Use of variable injection timing, multiple –injection and injection rate shaping technology
The beneficial effects of high injection
pressure are;
• Improved fuel atomization producing finer fuel droplets.
• The smaller fuel droplets evaporate at a faster rate resulting in
rapid fuel-air mixing.
• A shorter injection duration
• With shorter injection duration injection timing may be retarded.
Fuel may now be injected closer
• to TDC in hotter air giving shorter ignition delay, resulting in
emission benefits
• Higher spray penetration and better air utilization
 NOx is decreased by
A. Decreasing the combustion chamber temperature
• The combustion chamber temperature can be decreased by
1. Decreasing compression ratio
2. Retarding spark timing
3. Decreasing charge temperature
4. Decreasing engine speed
5. Decreasing inlet charge pressure
6. Exhaust gas recirculation
7. Increasing humidity
8. Water injection
9. Operating the engine with very lean or very rich air fuel ratio
10. Decreasing the coolant temperature
11. Decreasing the deposits
12. Increasing S/V ratio
B. By decreasing oxygen available in the flame front
• The amount of oxygen available in the chamber can be controlled by
2. Hydrocarbon emission can be decreased by
1. Decreasing the compression ratio
2. Retarding the spark
3. Increasing charge temperature
4. Increasing coolant temperature
5. Insulating exhaust manifold
6. Increasing engine speed
7. Lean mixture
8. Adding oxygen in the exhaust
9. Decreasing S/V ratio
10. Increasing turbulence
11. Decreasing the deposits
12. Increasing exhaust manifold volume
13. Increasing exhaust back pressure
3. CO can be decreased by
1. Lean air fuel ratio
2. Adding oxygen in the exhaust
3. Increasing coolant temperature.
EXHAUST GAS RECIRCULATION
• Exhaust gas recirculation has been widely used to reduce NOx
emissions in the CI engines
• With the use of EGR, reduction in NOx is accompanied with an
increase of smoke, particulate and HC emissions. Fuel consumption
also increases with the use of EGR.
• As the EGR is applied, excess air decreases
• With 25% EGR in a turbocharged engine at full load operation, the
excess air ratio decreased from around 1.7 to 1.3. Simultaneously
with 25% EGR, the NOx reduced by 85%, smoke increased manifold
from around 0.5 Bosch smoke units to 3.5 Bosch units and BSFC
increased by 8%.
 Cooling of EGR before mixing with air has
the following possible effects
• Lower intake charge temperature would further reduce NOx formation.
• Higher intake charge density, higher volumetric efficiency and higher
oxygen content in charge would give higher flame temperatures resulting in
higher oxidation of soot.
• A higher volumetric efficiency provides lower BSFC.
• Lower charge temperatures would result in longer ignition delay period,
more premixed combustion and higher unburned HC emissions.
• For the same reduction in NOx, loss in fuel economy is lower with cooled
EGR compared to uncooled EGR.
THERMAL REACTORS
• Thermal reactor is a chamber in the exhaust system designed to
provide sufficient residence time to allow appreciable homogeneous
oxidation of HC and CO to occur.
• In order to improve CO conversion efficiency, the exhaust temperature
is increased by retarding spark timing. This however results in fuel
economy loss.
CATALYTIC CONVERTERS
• The catalytic converter was invented by Eugene Houdry, a French
mechanical engineer and expert in catalytic oil refining.
Construction
• The catalyst support or substrate:
• The core is usually a ceramic monolith with a honeycomb structure.
• Metallic foil monoliths made of Kanthal (FeCrAl) are used in
applications where particularly high heat resistance is required.
ALTERNATE FUELS
• Ethanol, methanol,
• Natural gas,
• Liquefied petroleum gas(LPG),
• Vegetable oil esters commonly called as ‘biodiesel’
• Hydrogen
DIESEL PARTICULATE FILTERS
• Diesel particulate filters (DPF) also called as ‘particulate traps’ have
been developed to filter out PM from the diesel exhaust gases to
meet very stringent emission limits.
• Alumina coated wire mesh, ceramic fiber, porous ceramic monoliths
etc., have been studied as filtration media.
• Presently, ceramic monolith of honeycomb type structure is used to
trap the particulate matter as the gas flows through its porous walls.
• These filters are also termed as ‘ceramic wall flow filters’
DIESEL FUELS
• Ignition quality is a measure of ease of self-ignition of diesel fuel
when the fuel is injected in hot compressed air in the engine
cylinder
• The density of diesel fuel varies generally in the range 810 to 880
kg/m3.
DIESEL EXHAUST GAS AFTERTREATMENT
• DIESEL OXIDATION CATALYSTS
• Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR)
• The diesel oxidation catalyst is also termed as DOC
• Low exhaust gas temperatures
• Presence of particulate matter in the diesel exhaust and
• High fuel sulphur content compared to gasoline
Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR)
• The selective catalytic reduction of NOx by ammonia
• Urea is used as the carrier of ammonia. Hydrolysis of urea is carried
out at first on a catalyst on board of the vehicle to produce ammonia
and carbon dioxide.
• Ammonia then, reacts on the SCR catalyst with the NOx and converts
it to nitrogen.
• Vanadium and titanium oxide mixture (V2O5 + TiO2 + WO3) coated
on a ceramic honeycomb substrate of 200- 400 cpsi is used as SCR
catalyst.
• The basic chemical reactions in the urea-SCR process are as follows
SCR Catalyst System
• The basic SCR system using urea consists of three catalysts viz.,
• Hydrolysis catalyst
• SCR catalyst, and
• An oxidation catalyst to oxidize ammonia slip
Alcohols: Methanol and Ethanol
• Methanol at present is produced mostly from natural gas although
both methanol and ethanol can be produced from renewable sources
• Alcohols in engines may be used as:
• Low concentration ( 5 to 10% by volume) blends in gasoline
• Neat alcohol or high level ( 85% by volume) blends
• Alcohols are a preferred alternative for SI engines only due to their
high octane number. A higher engine compression ratio could be used
to obtain a higher engine thermal efficiency
Natural Gas
• The principal constituent of natural gas is methane (80 to 95% by
volume).