Pollutant Formation and Control
Pollutant Formation and Control
Pollutant Formation and Control
and Control
Historical Perspective
During the 1940s air pollution as a problem was first recognized in the Los
Angeles basin.
Two causes of this were the large population density and the natural weather
conditions. Smoke and other pollutants combined with fog to form smog.
In 1966 HC and CO emission limits were introduced in California.
All of North America usually follows Californias lead (all US in 1968).
By making more fuel efficient engines and with the use of exhaust after
treatment, emissions per vehicle of HC, CO, and NOx were reduced by
about 95% during the 1970s and 1980s.
Automobiles are more fuel efficient now (2x compared to 1970) but there are
more of them and the trend is to larger as a result fuel usage is unchanged
over this period.
Nitrogen Oxides
NOx includes nitric oxide (NO) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2)
In SI engines the dominant component of NOx is NO
Forms as a result of dissociation of molecular nitrogen and oxygen.
Since the activation energy of the critical elementary reaction O+N2NO+N
is high the reaction rate is very temperature dependent, '' ~ exp (-E/RT)
Therefore NO is only formed at high temperatures and the reaction rate is
relatively slow.
At temperatures below 2000K the reaction rate is extremely slow, so NO
formation not important.
x=0
x=1
-15o (x = 0)
25o (x = 1)
x=0
x=1
Equilibrium concentration:
based on the local temperature, pressure,
equivalence ratio, residual fraction
Actual NO concentration:
based on kinetics
Pi= 354 mm Hg
= 0.97
= 0.96
= 1.31
= 1.27
Hydrocarbons
Hydrocarbon emissions result from the presence of unburned fuel in the
engine exhaust.
However, some of the exhaust hydrocarbons are not found in the fuel, but are
hydrocarbons derived from the fuel whose structure was altered do to
chemical reaction that did not go to completion. For example: acetaldehyde,
formaldehyde, 1,3 butadiene, and benzene all classified as toxic emissions.
About 9% of the fuel supplied to the engine is not burned during the normal
combustion phase of the expansion stroke.
Only 2% ends up in the exhaust the rest is consumed during the other
three strokes.
As a consequence hydrocarbon emissions cause a decrease in the thermal
efficiency, as well as being an air pollutant.
% fuel escaping
normal combustion
% HC emissions
Crevices
Oil layers
Deposits
Liquid fuel
Flame quench
Exhaust valve leakage
5.2
1.0
1.0
1.2
0.5
0.1
38
16
16
20
5
5
Total
9.0
100
Crevice
Piston ring
Flame quenching It has been shown that the flame does not burn completely
to the internal surfaces, the flame extinguishes at a small but finite distance
from the wall. Most of this gas eventually diffuses into the burned gas during
expansion stroke.
Blowdown
Exhaust
Stroke
Exhaust
valve
closes
Exhaust
valve
opens
BC
TC
Overmixing of fuel and air - During the ignition delay period evaporated fuel
mixes with the air, regions of fuel-air mixture are produced that are too lean to
burn. Some of this fuel makes its way out the exhaust.
Longer ignition delay more fuel becomes overmixed.
17
Note for the direct injection diesel the hydrocarbon emission are the worst at
light load (long ignition delay)
Particulates
A high concentration of particulate matter (PM) is manifested as visible
smoke in the exhaust gases.
Particulates are any substance other than water that can be collected by
filtering the exhaust, classified as:
1) solid carbon material or soot
2) condensed hydrocarbons and their partial oxidation products
Diesel particulates consist of solid carbon (soot) at exhaust gas temperatures
below 500oC HC compounds become absorbed on the surface.
In a properly adjusted SI engines soot is not usually a problem
Particulate can arise if leaded fuel or overly rich fuel-air mixture are used.
burning crankcase oil will also produce smoke especially during engine warm
up where the HC condense in the exhaust gas.
Particulates (soot)
Most particulate material results from incomplete combustion of fuel HC which
occurs in fuel rich mixtures.
Based on equilibrium the composition of the fuel-oxidizer mixture at the onset
of soot formation occurs when x 2a (or x/2a 1) in the following reaction:
C x H y aO2 2aCO
y
H 2 ( x 2a )C ( s )
2
i.e. when the (C/O) ratio exceeds 1. Experimentally it is found that the critical
C/O ratio for onset of soot formation is between 0.5 and 0.8
The CO, H2, and C(s) are subsequently oxidized in the diffusion flame to
CO2 and H2O via the following second stage
1
CO O2 CO2
2
C ( s ) O2 CO2
1
H 2 O2 H 2O
2
Any carbon not oxidized in the cylinder ends up as soot in the exhaust!
= 0.7
= 0.5
= 0.3
Carbon Monoxide
Carbon monoxide appears in the exhaust of fuel rich running engines.
For fuel rich mixtures there is insufficient oxygen to convert all the carbon in
the fuel to carbon dioxide.
C8H18-air