Diesel engine and exhaust emission

• Main Author: Tan, Peng Ming.
• Other Authors: Khong Poh Wah
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: 2013
• Subjects: DRNTU::Engineering::Mechanical engineering
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10356/55207
• Institution: Nanyang Technological University

Environmental pollution has been one of the pressing global concerns with impact large enough to affect the entire world. Vehicle emissions are the major source of air pollution and legalization regarding emission standards has been enforced and tightened in order to reduce the amount of toxic pollutants being released into the atmosphere. The transport sector has been going through a boom period in which the number of vehicles has been greatly increased over the past few years. In China alone, the number of vehicles on the road has seen an increase of 150% from 30.8 million to 77.2 million units[1a]. In 2010, the vehicles in China emitted a total of more than 52 tons of pollutant including nitrogen oxides, hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide and particulate matter. While it is widely acknowledged that the number of vehicles will only keep growing larger, the focus has shifted to the operations of the vehicles instead of limiting the quantity of vehicles on the roads. Hybrid technology in cars using regenerative breaking system and electrical motors sought to reduce the emission of these pollutant gases but are generally priced at a higher premium compared to the usual gasoline and diesel choices which can deter its wide adoption. In this work the performance of the diesel engine is being analyzed with respect to the exhaust emissions. The diesel engine is put through different load configurations to try to relate a trend in the pollutant emission in order to find a configuration best suited for low level of pollutant emission without a significant compromise in engine performance. The diesel engine is found to be emitting significant percentage decrease in the pollutant gases with low and moderate load at lower and mid-range rpm. However once the diesel engine is put through a high percentage loading, the significance of rpm diminishes. Later stages of the report will also compare the pollutant emission of a diesel engine enhanced with engine oil additive. While the engine oil additive does enhance the diesel engine performance in terms of fuel economy, there were no significant changes in the emission of the pollutant gas to warrant the need for using engine oil additive from an environmentally friendly perspective.