IMPROVMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PERFORMANCE TWO-STROKE DIESEL DURING OPERATION

Based on the traffic volume data and vehicular emission factors, the emission amounts of CO, HC and NOx from vehicle exhaust in Beijing-Harbin highway, in total and in different provinces, was quantitatively analyzed in this paper. The results showed that the emission amounts of CO, HC and NOx were 745.57 t, 90.72 t and 226.40 t each day, respectively. The majority of pollutant emission occurred in Liaoning province, where CO, HC and NOx emissions were 302.87 t, 37.64 t and 107.28 t each day, respectively. The smallest emissions of CO and HC were in Heilongjiang province, the amounts of which were 21.46 t and 2.67 t each day, respectively. The smallest emission of NOx occurred in Beijing, the amount of which was 5.43 t each day. As for the vehicle category, most CO and HC emissions were from small size vehicles, then large size vehicles and medium size vehicles occupied the smallest proportion. Most NOx emissions were from large size vehicles, then small size vehicles and medium size vehicles occupied the smallest proportion.

The by-pass system of exhaust gas for the engine 6L20 Wartsila has been observed. The requirements of Annex VI MARPOL towards nitrogen oxide concentration in ship engine exhaust gases have been provided. The purpose of research was the determination of diesel 6L20 Wartsila by-pass exhaust gases optimum volume – at this the nitrogen oxide minimal concentration in exhaust gases is assured, the minimal increase (comparing with operation mode without by-pass) – specific effective fuel consumption, supporting of necessary thermal factor diapason of engine cylinders. The research was performed for the exhaust gas by-pass diapason 0…10 % with engine load diapason 0.55…0.85 % from nominal power. Upon experimental results it has been stated that the exhaust gas by-pass usage favors the ecological parameters of ships engine operation modes – by this at the range of exploitation load 0.55…0.85 % from nominal power the nitrogen oxide concentration in exhaust gas is decreased to 1.32….12.97 %. The exhaust gas by-pass impairs the combustion process and favors the increasing of specific effective fuel consumption and increasing the temperature of exhaust gases. The exhaust gas by-pass system effectiveness assessment should be performed by complex estimation of the following engine operation parameters: the nitrogen oxide concentration in exhaust gas, increasing of specific effective fuel consumption(SFOC), the exhaust gas temperature. As optimal degree of exhaust gas by-pass value when the maximum decrease of nitrogen oxide emission at minimal increase of fuel consumption and simultaneous engine thermal factor handling has to be considered.

On-road vehicle emissions of carbon monoxide (CO), nitrogen oxides (NOx), and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) during 1995–2009 in the Atlanta Metropolitan Statistical Area were estimated using the Motor Vehicle Emission Simulator (MOVES) model and data from the National Emissions Inventories and the State of Georgia. Statistically significant downward trends (computed using the nonparametric Theil-Sen method) in annual on-road CO, NOx, and VOC emissions of 6.1%, 3.3%, and 6.0% per year, respectively, are noted during the 1995–2009 period despite an increase in total vehicle distance traveled. The CO and NOx emission trends are correlated with statistically significant downward trends in ambient air concentrations of CO and NOx in Atlanta ranging from 8.0% to 11.8% per year and from 5.8% to 8.7% per year, respectively, during similar time periods. Weather-adjusted summertime ozone concentrations in Atlanta exhibited a statistically significant declining trend of 2.3% per year during 2001–2009. Although this trend coexists with the declining trends in on-road NOx, VOC, and CO emissions, identifying the cause of the downward trend in ozone is complicated by reductions in multiple precursors from different source sectors.Implications:Large reductions in on-road vehicle emissions of CO and NOx in Atlanta from the late 1990s to 2009, despite an increase in total vehicle distance traveled, contributed to a significant improvement in air quality through decreases in ambient air concentrations of CO and NOx during this time period. Emissions reductions in motor vehicles and other source sectors resulted in these improvements and the observed declining trend in ozone concentrations over the past decade. Although these historical trends cannot be extrapolated to the future because pollutant concentration contributions due to on-road vehicle emissions will likely become an increasingly smaller fraction of the atmospheric total, they provide an indication of the benefits of past control measures.

For the two-stroke marine diesel engine, the action of exhaust valve has a significant impact on scavenging and combustion processes and ultimately affects the engine performances and emissions. In order to reduce nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions of a two-stroke marine diesel engine, different exhaust valve lifts (EVLs) were achieved by computational fluid dynamics simulation method in this study. The NOx reduction effect and influence mechanism of EVL on a two-stroke marine diesel engine were investigated in detail. The results showed that the in-cylinder residual exhaust gas and the internal exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) rate gradually increased with the decreasing EVL. Although the total mass of charge enclosed in the cylinder did not change much, the composition changed gradually and the maximum internal EGR rate reached 13.17% in this study. The maximum compression pressure and combustion pressure both rose first and then decreased with the decreasing EVL. While the start of combustion and the maximum combustion temperature were basically unaffected by EVL, the indicated power of the engine was also not much impacted when the EVL was changed from increasing 10 mm to decreasing 20 mm. The indicated specific fuel consumption first declined slowly and then rose rapidly as the EVL reduction exceeded 20 mm. NOx emissions decreased monotonously with the decreasing EVL. The reduction of NOx formation rate and the amount of NOx formation mass mainly occurred at the middle and late stages of combustion for the downward moving of residual exhaust gas. NOx emissions were reduced by 12.57% without compromising other engine performances at medium-reduced EVL in this study. However, in order to further reduce NOx emissions at low EVLs, other measures may be needed to make the residual exhaust gas more evenly distributed during the initial stage of combustion.

Characteristics of NOX and NH3 emissions from in-use heavy-duty diesel vehicles with various aftertreatment technologies in China

Investigation of selective catalytic reduction for control of nitrogen oxides in full-scale dairy energy production

Numerous studies of ambient ozone (O3) in the Los Angeles (LA) area have found both increases and decreases in elevated O3 levels on weekends, depending on location and year. Since the mid-1990s, average daily maximum O3 levels have been higher on weekends than on week-days throughout most of the area. We used the Comprehensive Air-Quality Model with extensions to investigate causes of weekday/weekend O3 differences in the LA area for August 3–7, 1997, from the Southern California Ozone Study. Weekday/weekend emission changes were estimated, because explicit weekend inventories are not yet available from regulatory agencies. Changes to on-road motor vehicle (MV) emissions were derived from observed weekday/weekend traffic differences. The estimated changes in MV emissions of nitrogen oxides (NOx) were a 5% increase on Friday, a 27% decrease on Saturday, and a 37% decrease on Sunday, relative to Monday–Thursday levels. The corresponding changes in MV volatile organic carbon (VOC) emissions were an 8% increase on Friday, an 8% decrease on Saturday, and a 15% decrease on Sunday. Modeling these MV emissions changes explained the observed weekend O3 effect very well. Furthermore, changes to the mass of MV NOx emissions were the main contributor to O3 differences rather than changes to the timing of MV emissions. Ozone increases on weekends were caused by NOx emission decreases, because O3 formation is strongly VOC-limited throughout most of the LA area.

Developing an effective method of reducing nitrogen oxide emissions is an important goal in diesel engine research. The use of cooled exhaust gas recirculation has been considered one of the most effective techniques of reducing nitrogen oxide. However, since the combustion characteristics in a diesel engine involves high temperature and load, the amount of particulate matter emission tends to increase, and there is a trade-off between the amount of nitrogen oxide and particulate matter emissions. In the present study, engine dynamometer experiments are performed to investigate the effects of particulate matter fouling on the heat exchange characteristics of wave fin type exhaust gas recirculation coolers that have four cases of two wave pitch and three fin pitch lengths. To optimize the fin and wave pitches of the EGR cooler, the exhaust gas temperature, pressure drop and heat exchange effectiveness are compared. The experimental results show that the exhaust gas recirculation cooler with a fin pitch of 3.6 mm and a wave pitch of 8.8 mm exhibits better heat exchange characteristics and smaller particulate matter fouling effect than the other coolers.

<div class="section abstract"><div class="htmlview paragraph">Amidst escalating climate change, the sustainability of internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles, particularly in heavy transport, remains a critical challenge. Despite emission reductions from 1990 to 2020, ICEs, particularly diesel engines in Europe, continue to pose environmental challenges, notably in nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. This study proposes a novel solution to address the problem of NOx emissions by incorporating Air Cycle Technology’s (ACT) turboexpander into diesel engines. Acting as a second-stage compressor, intercooler, and expander, the turboexpander aims to lower intake air temperature, thereby mitigating NOx formation. The study utilizes a 4.4-l JCB-TCA-74 turbocharged diesel engine retrofitted with the ACT turboexpander as the experimental platform. The methodology involves using empirical formulae to calculate the key parameters of engine airflow for a standard turbocharged diesel engine followed by repeating the calculations for the same engine fitted with a turboexpander. Parameters including intake temperature, cylinder temperature, exhaust gas temperature, and NOx emissions are analyzed in depth and compared for both the engines. Initial calculations suggest that the turboexpander has the potential to reduce intake temperatures by up to 34°C, resulting in significant reductions in NOx emissions. These findings underscore the promising role of turboexpanders in enhancing the sustainability of diesel engines, urging further exploration across various engine types. As emissions standards tighten, the adoption of innovative solutions like turboexpanders could contribute to a cleaner and more sustainable future for the ICE.</div></div>

Lean-burn gasoline and diesel engines can offer substantially higher fuel efficiency, good driving performance, and reduced carbon dioxide emission compared to stoichiometric gasoline engines. Various catalyst technologies have been developed to remove the pollutants from these engines. For example, a three-way catalyst (TWC) is used to remove hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), and nitrogen oxides (NOx) from gasoline engines during the stoichiometric conditions. During the lean-burn conditions, a TWC or a diesel oxidation catalyst (DOC) is used to control HC and CO emissions. NOx is removed by either lean NOx trap catalyst (LNT) that can store NOx under lean conditions and reduce NOx under rich conditions, or selective catalytic reduction catalyst (SCR) that can selectively remove NOx with a reducing agent. Among the NOx reduction catalyst technologies, SCR offers a number of advantages, including excellent NOx reduction efficiency over a wide range of temperatures and overall lower system cost. In fact, the SCR technology using ammonia (NH3) as reductant has been proven effective and used commercially for the removal of NOx emissions from stationary sources since the 1970s. Currently, SCR is being used to meet the NOx emission standards for diesel engines in Europe and North America, and also being considered for meeting the future NOx emission standards for lean-burn gasoline engines. Because of the challenges associated with storage, handling and transportation of ammonia on a vehicle, aqueous urea solution (e.g., Diesel Exhaust Fluid, AdBlue) has been developed as ammonia storage compound for mobile applications. When the aqueous urea solution is sprayed into exhaust gas stream, urea is decomposed to release ammonia, which then reduces NOx over the downstream SCR catalyst. Although aqueous urea solution technology has enabled automakers and engine manufacturers to meet the current NOx emission standards, this process of releasing ammonia requires a hot exhaust gas and sufficient mixing, creating challenges for low temperature NOx emission control and aftertreatment system packaging. For these reasons, alternative technologies have been developed as ammonia sources (e.g., solid urea, ammonium carbamate, metal ammine chloride) during the past few years. These technologies promise more convenient handling and distribution of ammonia sources, and help maximize the low-temperature performance of SCR catalysts and reduce the overall system volume and weight. However, none of these alternative technologies can be successfully implemented without the industry consensus. Therefore, the USCAR SCR work group, which is comprised of representatives from GM, Ford, and Chrysler, has decided to investigate the potential alternative ammonia carriers, define common standard vehicle interfaces, and address personal and environmental safety concerns with part suppliers and chemical companies. Under this CRADA Project, USCAR and Battelle will investigate alternative ammonia carrier materials that are currently under development. Based on the data and information derived under the CRADA project, the USCAR SCR work group plans to build the consensus and make recommendations for the industry.

The natural gas high pressure direct injection (HPDI) engines have attracted attention due to their high combustion stability and thermal efficiency comparable to diesel. However, the nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions from HPDI engines remain high. In this study, the coupling effects of the exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and pilot diesel quantity were investigated on a four stroke HPDI engine by simulation. Three pilot diesel quantities and four EGR rates were involved, and the combustion and emission characteristics of the engine were compared and discussed. The results show that with increasing EGR rate, the maximum combustion pressure (Pmax) decreases with different pilot diesel quantity, and the crank angle corresponding to the maximum combustion pressure (CPmax), the crank angle corresponding to the maximum heat release rate (CHRRmax) and the crank angle corresponding to the 50% cumulative heat release (CA50) are all pushed back. NOx emissions decrease gradually with the increase of EGR rate, but soot, unburned hydrocarbon (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) emissions and methane escape all increase and the indicated thermal efficiency (ITE) decreases. The traditional “trade-off” relationship between NOx and soot emissions still exists on HPDI engine and becomes more obvious as the quantity of pilot diesel increases. NOx and soot emissions can be well balanced at moderate EGR rate. Increasing the quantity of pilot diesel can partially offset the hysteresis effect of EGR on the combustion process. And when the EGR rate is controlled within 30%, increasing the quantity of pilot diesel is beneficial to reduce HC and CO emissions and methane escape. By increasing the quantity of pilot diesel coupled with a moderate level of EGR rate, it is possible to significantly reduce NOx emissions while maintaining the ITE, methane escape and unburned diesel, HC and CO emissions at the same level as without EGR. But soot emissions will increase substantially.

Diesel vehicles are one of the major forms of transportation, especially in metropolitan regions. However, air pollution released from diesel vehicles causes serious damage to both human health and the environment, and as a result is of great public concern. Nitrogen oxides and black smoke are two significant emissions from diesel engines. Understanding the correlation between these two emissions is an important step toward developing the technology for an appropriate strategy to control or eliminate them. This study field-tested 185 diesel vehicles at an engine dynamometer station for their black smoke reflectivity and nitrogen oxides concentration to explore the correlation between these two pollutants. The test results revealed that most of the tested diesel vehicles emitted black smoke with low reflectivity and produced low nitrogen oxides concentration. The age of the tested vehicles has a significant influence on the NOx emission. The older the tested vehicles, the higher the NOx concentrations emitted, however, there was no obvious correlation between the age of the tested diesel vehicles and the black smoke reflectivity. In addition, if the make and engine displacement volume of the tested diesel vehicles are not taken into consideration, then the correlation between the black smoke reflectivity and nitrogen oxides emission weakens. However, when the tested vehicles were classified into various groups based on their makes and engine displacement volumes, then the make of a tested vehicle became a dominant factor for both the quantity and the trend of the black smoke reflectivity, as well as the NOx emission. Higher emission indices of black smoke reflectivity and nitrogen oxides were observed if the diesel vehicles were operated at low engine speed and full engine load conditions. Moreover, the larger the displacement volume of the engine of the tested vehicle, the lower the emission indices of both black smoke reflectivity and nitrogen oxides emitted. The emission indices of black smokes reflectivity and nitrogen oxides emission of the tested diesel vehicles were also influenced by the make of the vehicle. It was observed that the emission indices of black smoke reflectivity decreased nearly linearly with the increase of the emission indices of NOx for the tested vehicles belonging to the same group of make and engine displacement volume.

The nitrogen oxides (NOx) are prominent and harmful pollutants in the exhaust of diesel engines. The reduction of NOx to harmless products using catalysts is proved to be a remedy. The present study attempts to reduce NOx emissions in the exhaust of low heat rejection (LHR) diesel engine by catalytic reduction, using lanthanum ion exchanged zeolite (catalyst-A) and urea infused lanthanum ion exchanged zeolite (catalyst-B) under varied conditions . The effect of temperature of catalyst, space velocity, and void ratio on the reduction of NOx in the exhaust of the engines are also studied and compared with the conventional engine (CE) under identical conditions. The study showed a considerable reduction by 40-50% in NOx emissions.

Diesel engine emissions for on-road, stationary and marine applications are regulated in the United States via standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). A major component of diesel exhaust that is difficult to reduce is nitrogen oxides (NOx). Selective catalytic reduction (SCR) has been in use for many years for stationary applications, including external combustion boilers, and is promising for NOx abatement as a retrofit for mobile applications where diesel compression ignition engines are used. The research presented in this paper is the first phase of a program focused on the reduction of NOx by use of a stand-alone urea injection system, applicable to marine diesel engines typical of work boats (e.g., tugs). Most current urea SCR systems communicate with engine controls to predict NOx emissions based on signals such as torque and engine speed, however many marine engines in use still employ mechanical injection technology and lack electronic communication abilities. The system developed and discussed in this paper controls NOx emissions independentof engine operating parameters and measures NOx and exhaust flow using the following exhaust sensor inputs: absolute pressure, differential pressure, temperature, and NOx concentration. These sensor inputs were integrated into an independent controller and open loop architecture to estimate the necessary amount of urea needed, and the controller uses pulse width modulation (PWM) to power an automotive fuel injector for airless urea delivery. The system was tested in a transient test cell on a 350 hp engine certified at 4 g/bhp-hr of NOx, with a goal of reducing the engine out NOx levels by 50%. NOx reduction capabilities of 41-67% were shown on the non road transient cycle (NRTC) and ICOMIA E5 steady state cycles with system optimization during testing to minimize the dilute ammonia slip to cycle averages of 5-7 ppm. The goal of 50% reduction of NOx can be achieved dependent upon cycle. Further research with control optimization, urea distribution and possible use of oxidation catalysts is recommended to improve the NOx reduction capabilities while minimizing ammonia slip.

The international shipping industry is facing increasingly stringent limitations on nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions. New solutions for reducing NOx emitted by marine engines need to be investigated to find the best technology. Selective Catalytic Reduction (SCR) is an advanced active emissions control technology successfully used in automotive diesel engines; it could be applied to marine engines with ad-hoc solutions to integrate it in the exhaust of large engines. In this study, a commercial SCR was tested at the exhaust of a diesel engine in inlet gas conditions typical of a marine engine. The SCR system consisted of a custom monolith (provided by Hug-Engineering AG) that enabled seamless integration for a broad range of engine sizes; the active phases were V2O5 (3 wt%)-WO3 (7 wt%)-TiO2 (75 wt%). The monolith was studied at the laboratory scale for its in-depth chemical/physical characterization and by means of an intermediate-scale engine, reproducing the exhaust gas conditions of a full-scale marine engine. The system’s effectiveness in terms of NOx removal for the selected engine operating conditions was evaluated in a wide range of temperature and NOx emissions values and for different quantities of the reduction agent (AdBlue or ammonia) added to exhaust gases. The investigated technological solution resulted in efficient NOx emission control from a marine engine.