No description available.

In India, with the increase in the number of industries and vehicles the environment is getting more and more polluted. More than industries it is the rapid growth of vehicles which causes serious environmental crisis in the form of air pollution and has become alarming particularly in cities. The industrial and vehicular growth cannot be neglected, as the country’s economic and social well being is largely dependent on them. But this should not come at the cost of our health and eco system. The industrial and vehicular emissions must be controlled in order to keep our air clean. Continued efforts in this direction are being taken up across the globe to investigate an efficient and economical technique. There are many air pollutants being emitted from both natural and manmade sources. The major air pollutants identified as hazardous to human health are nitrogen oxides (NOx), carbon monoxide (CO), particulate matter (PM), volatile organic compounds (VOC), and sulfur dioxides (SOx). Among these, nitrogen oxides are considered to be difficult to remove. The sources of NOx are thermal power plants, stationary and mobile diesel engines, gasturbine engine, ironore sintering plants and various other smallscale utilities. There are conventionally available technologies to remove NOx such as chemical scrubbing, catalysis etc. But these techniques are either difficult to operate or do not bring down the level of NOx to the required norms imposed by the government. The failure of conventional techniques to remove NOx to the expected limit led to the development of alternative nonconventional techniques. Prominent among these new alternative techniques is electric discharge plasma, where the gas is partially ionized and temperature of electrons is considerably higher than that of ions and background gas molecules. Diesel engines are getting popular due to their inherent merits and their number is increasing considerably. Unfortunately, the exhaust of diesel engine being complex with high oxygen content makes the existing pollution control techniques insufficient particularly with regard to removal of NOx. So there is a need for investigating better technology which can effectively abate the pollutants from diesel engine exhaust. Electric Discharge plasma is one such alternative technique which has been very successful in large volumes of flue gas cleaning and hence, its potential is being explored in the cleaning of small volumes of vehicular exhausts, in particular, diesel engine exhaust. In the present work we investigated the relative performance of different electric discharge plasma reactors, with different type of voltages like AC, DC and pulse. The reactors were evaluated for NOx removal efficiency and NO conversion. This research work is a feasibility study to find whether electric discharge plasma can be used more effectively as an alternative technology for the after treatment of diesel engine exhaust in cascade with some cheaper adsorbents, if necessary. The scope of this qualitative experimental study can briefly be summarized as below: . • To study different reactors for NO conversion and NOx removal . • To study the effect of dielectric pellets in enhancing the radical production which in turn will have a bearing on the chemical reactions . • To study the effect of different types of voltages on the cleansing process . • To propose an efficient reactor system subject to the experimental conditions studied.

It is the need of the hour to reduce the pollutants which poison our atmosphere and harm our health. The diesel engines are the most efficient IC engines in the world today, but paradoxically, they are also the engines which create the largest amounts of NOx, the pollutant that is most difficult to control with the existing technologies. In fact, the existing technologies are unable to meet the increasingly stringent standards for NOx. Even in bio-diesels, which in the future may be adopted as an important alternative fuel, NOx is the major pollutant. Thus not having a safe and stable method for NOx removal from the diesel exhaust stream is a cause for concern. In this thesis, there has been an attempt to address this issue by means of non-thermal plasma and catalysts. In this thesis, first the performance of the three sources was evaluated individually, along with two different HV electrodes, a helical wire and a straight wire. Secondly, the efficiencies of these three different types of sources were compared. Thirdly, a catalyst (Red Mud) and an adsorbent (NaZSM5) were cascaded with the plasma reactor to enhance the performance of the NOx removal process with the AC source as it gave the best results. All the experiments were performed with real diesel engine exhaust. The conclusions drawn from the experiments are as follows: The helical electrode consumes much lower power than the straight electrode. Therefore it is energy efficient. It also causes corona inception at lower voltages due to the strong non-uniformity of its electric field. The drawbacks of the helical electrode are an excess production of NO2 .it also does not work with the HFAC source, because at high frequency, the voltage doesn’t build up owing to the presence of only a dielectric medium of 2 mm thickness between the two electrodes. The performances of the 3 sources were compared. The HVAC unit gave the best NOx removal, followed by the MPC and finally, the HFAC source. The differences in efficiencies were related to both the magnitude of the peak voltage achieved by each device and the time period. It was also seen that when the voltage was high, a better efficiency can be achieved with lower power consumption. The comparison of the sources leads us to conclude that the high voltage AC source can be used as an economic alternative for NOx control. This is because a standard AC unit is easily available at higher voltages, and contains less electrical or mechanical complexity, whereas a pulsed source is comparatively expensive and complex. The NaZSM5 zeolite showed excellent removal at room temperature as an adsorbent when cascaded after the AC source, by reducing the NO2 levels consistently. The Red Mud showed reasonable catalytic activity at 400 C with the AC source. It was also efficient in compensating for the increase in the NO2 and CO concentration in the plasma atmosphere. Hence, both Red Mud and ZSM 5 are good candidates for a hybrid plasma-adsorbent or plasma-catalyst system. The combination better NOx/CO removal is the AC energization coupled with spiral electrode with either ZSM-5 or red mud. Scaling up the plasma/ plasma- catalyst system for handling higher flow rates will be the main task next. A method to optimize the source and load matching for better power transfer to the plasma reactor from the different sources also need to be developed. The design of the compact high frequency AC source must be upgraded for higher powers.

Orientadores: Cristiane Aparecida Martins, Pedro Teixeira Lacava / Dissertação (mestrado profissional) - Universidade Estadual de Campinas, Faculdade de Engenharia Mecânica / Made available in DSpace on 2018-08-16T08:17:14Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Squaiella_LucasLazaroFerreira_M.pdf: 3325572 bytes, checksum: a305c0e70b83a23effc5931811a53dc0 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2010 / Resumo: Veículos automotores são responsáveis pela maior parte da locomoção no mundo moderno. A principal forma de energia propulsora utilizada baseia-se na queima de combustíveis fósseis. Em sistemas reais de combustão o processo químico envolvido apresenta alto grau de complexidade que se traduz, na emissão de cinco principais espécies de poluentes atmosféricos, a saber, monóxido de carbono, compostos orgânicos (hidrocarbonetos não queimados ou apenas parcialmente queimados), particulados, óxidos sulfurosos e óxidos nitrogenados. Graças a crescente e necessária preocupação ambiental as normas relativas a emissões têm sido periodicamente revistas, sendo uma das principais o Padrão Europeu definido como Euro que disciplina veículos que circulam na Europa e demais países que como o Brasil que a adotam como modelo. Motores a diesel têm como emissão crítica os óxidos nitrogenados, NOx (NO + NO2) e as emissões de material particulado. As diferentes técnicas utilizadas para reduzir a formação destes poluentes podem ser divididas entre aquelas aplicadas durante o processo de combustão e as outras aplicadas somente após a combustão, ou seja, nos gases de exaustão. O presente trabalho utilizou-se de uma técnica que atua no processo de combustão conhecida como EGR, Recirculação Parcial dos Gases de Exaustão. O objeto de estudo é um motor diesel de quatro cilindros em linha, equipado com EGR que atende a Euro III, com limite de NOx igual a 5,0 g/kWh. A premissa do trabalho é a avaliação do potencial deste motor em atingir os níveis de emissões da norma Euro VI, com limite de NOx igual a 0,4 g/kWh. Para tal, serão mantidas as configurações originais do motor, alterando-se somente os componentes que fazem parte do sistema de EGR. O estudo foi realizado em diferentes etapas, I, II e III, durante as quais foram identificados os componentes de EGR que mais influenciam para a redução do NOx. Os resultados obtidos são satisfatórios, alcançando valores próximos ao objetivo, mostrando desta forma que o estudo é de grande aplicabilidade para os motores atuais e futuros / Abstract: Automotive vehicles are responsible for the most of locomotion in the modern world. The mainly propulsive energy used is based on burning of fossil fuels. In real combustion systems the chemical process involved a high complexity which results mainly in five types of air pollutants, that are, carbon monoxide, organic compounds as hydrocarbons unburned or partially burned, ashes, oxides sulfur and nitrogen oxides. Due to growing of necessity to care the environment concern, emissions standards have been reviewed periodically and one of the main is European Standard defined as Euro that discipline European vehicles and other countries like Brazil that concern it as a model. The most critical diesel engine emission are nitrogen oxides, NOx (NO + NO2) and particulate matter. The different techniques used to reduce the formation of these pollutants can be divided into those applied during the combustion process and other applied only after combustion, in the exhaust gases. This study used a technique that operates in the combustion process known as EGR, Exhaust Gas Recirculation. The object of study is a fourcylinder diesel engine, in line, equipped with EGR that meets the ,Euro III emission standards with NOx limit as 5,0 g / kWh. The premise work was evaluated the potential of this engine to achieve the Euro VI emission levels, with NOx limit as 0,4 g / kWh. To do this the original basic engine parts will be kept, to changing only the components that are part of the EGR system. The study was conducted at different stages I, II and III, to identify which EGR components have more influence to reduce NOx. The results are consider satisfactory, reaching values close to the goal, thus demonstrating that the study is of great applicability to current and future engines / Mestrado / Motores / Mestre em Engenharia Automobilistica

No description available.

In India, the expansion of industries and two-fold increase in motor vehicles over the last decade are posing a serious environmental crisis in the form of urban air pollution. Common pollutants include carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and nitrogen oxides produced by industry and motor vehicles. Air pollution results from a variety of sources. The natural sources include volcanoes, forest fire, scattering soil, biological decay, lightning strikes, dust storms etc. and man-made sources include thermal power plants, vehicular exhausts, incinerators and various other industrial emissions. More than 60% of the air pollution is contributed by these man-made sources. Amongst the gaseous pollutants, the major concern and a challenging task is to control oxides of nitrogen, commonly referred to as NOx. In case of diesel engines, despite the modification in engine design and improvement in after treatment technologies, large amount of NOx continues is get emitted and attempts to develop new catalyst to reduce NOx have so far been less successful. Further, with the emission standards becoming more stringent, estimates are that NOx and particulate matter emission must be reduced by as much as 90%. In this context, the emergence of electrical discharge plasma technique in combination with the few existing technologies is providing to be economically viable and efficient technology. In this thesis emphasis has been laid on the discharge based non-thermal plasma for NOx removal. NOx from simulated gas mixture and actual diesel engine exhaust has been treated. The thesis mainly addresses the following issues. . • Performance evaluation of pipe-cylinder and wire-cylinder reactor for NOx removal . • Study of effect of plasma assisted adsorbent reactor on NOx removal . • Study of effect of adsorption and plasma based desorption using different adsorbent material and electrode configuration The first chapter provides introduction about the air pollutants and the existing NOx control technologies, a brief history of electric discharge plasma, a detailed literature survey and scope of the work. A detailed experimental setup consisting of voltage sources, gas system (simulated flue gas and diesel exhaust), gas analyzers, adsorbent materials are discussed in the second chapter. In the third chapter, NOx is treated by three different methods and are described in separate parts. In first part we have done a comparative study of NO/NOx removal using two different types of dielectric barrier discharge electrodes: a) wire-cylinder reactor, b) pipe-cylinder reactor. Investigations were first carried out with synthetic gases to obtain the baseline information on the NO/NOx removal with respect to the two geometries studied. Further, experiments were carried out with raw diesel exhaust under loaded condition. A high NOx removal efficiency 90% was observed for pipe-cylinder reactor when compared to that with wire-cylinder reactor, where it was 53.4%. In second part an analysis has been made on discharge plasma coupled with an adsorbent system. The cascaded plasma-adsorbent system may be perceived as a better alternative for the existing adsorbent based abatement system in the industry. During this study the exhaust is sourced from a diesel generator set. It was observed that better NO removal in a plasma reactor can be made possible by achieving higher average fields and subsequent NO2 removal can be improved using an adsorbent system connected in cascade with the plasma system. This part describes the various findings pertaining to these comparative analyses. The third and last part of chapter 3 consists of gas desorption from an adsorbent by non-thermal plasma, which is an alternative to conventional thermal desorption, has been studied in relation to diesel engine exhaust. In this process saturated adsorbent material is regenerated using high energetic electrons and excited molecules produced by non thermal plasma. The last Chapter lists out the major inferences drawn from this study.

No description available.

In the last few decades India has advanced socioeconomically due to the rapid growth of industries and automobile sector. This in turn increases the use of fossil fuel and diesel. The atmosphere gets polluted due to the harmful substances, which comes from the burning of fuel. These pollutants can be in the form of gaseous, liquid or solid particulate. Diesel engines, the major source of power in industries and automobiles, play a significant part in causing air pollution. The major pollutants in diesel exhaust are oxides of nitrogen (NOX), sulphur dioxide (SO2), carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC), particulate matter (PM), volatile organic compounds (VOC), aldehydes and alcohols. Due to the heavy consumption of diesel as a fuel there is an urgent need to control diesel exhaust. Diesel exhaust is a complex mixture of several gases and fine particles (commonly known as soot) that contains more than 40 toxic air contaminants. Amongst the gaseous pollutants in diesel exhaust, the major concern and a challenging task is to control oxides of nitrogen, commonly referred to as NOX as it is the major contributor for acid rain, photochemical smog etc. Successful control of emissions from diesel engines is yet to be achieved. The conventional techniques which are available to control emission now are either difficult to operate or does not satisfy the stringent emission standards. This has made the researchers throughout the world to find an alternative and effective non-conventional after treatment technique to reduce diesel engine emission. The failure of conventional techniques lead to the development of non-conventional techniques such as high voltage electric discharge based plasma which has already been proved to be economical and highly efficient in industrial electrostatic precipitators. Electric discharge plasma or non-thermal plasma produce energetic electrons which react with background molecules in flue gas leading to active species such as radicals. These radicals being chemically active selectively react with the harmful pollutants facilitating their removal/reduction. The present thesis work is an attempt to provide a technical solution to achieve higher removal efficiencies of oxides of nitrogen in the backdrop of shortcomings that exist in conventional technologies to do so. The current thesis describes the research in four stages: (i) studies on NOX removal from diesel exhaust by cross-flow DBD reactor, where design and fabrication of cross-flow DBD reactor, exhaust treatment using cross-flow DBD reactor and exhaust treatment with cascaded plasma-adsorbent technique is described (ii) studies on NOX removal from diesel exhaust by compact discharge plasma sources, where design and fabrication of high frequency high voltage AC (HVAC) using old television flyback transformer, Design and fabrication of high voltage pulse (HVPulse) using automobile ignition coil, exhaust treatment with both HVPulse and HVAC and exhaust treatment with cascaded plasma-adsorbent technique is described (iii) studies on NOX removal from diesel exhaust using solar powered discharge plasma source is described (iv) studies on the NOX removal from diesel exhaust using red mud, where exhaust treatment with red mud and Exhaust treatment cascaded plasma-red mud is covered. The results have been discussed in light of enhancing the NOX removal efficiency for stationary and automobile engine exhausts.