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To meet the increasingly exacting emission control standards that are emerging,
alternative f u e l vehicles will be needed. I t appears that these will require opti-
mised and dedicated systems utilising innovative control strategies to achieve
the necessary standards. I n this paper, the major emission control issues for
engines fuelled with alcohol, naturalgas, propane, or diesel fuels are identified.
Control strategies employing dedicated emission control catalysts are discussed
and performance results f r o m laboratory, engine and vehicle tests are high-
lighted. Comparisons are made with gasoline fuelled engines, where signifi-
cant experience has been accumulated w e r the past decade with the use of closed
loop fuel control plus a catalytic converter to suppress the three m a i n polluting
emissions. The use of catalytic converters containing flow through catalysts is
emphasised.
The development of vehicles usingclean alter- line fuelled vehicles; it highlights the significant
native fuels, such as methanol, ethanol, natur- control issues and summarises recent develop-
al gas, propane, reformulated gasoline and clean ments in emission control catalysts.
diesel, has been hastened by tighter emission
standards, such as the United States Federal Fuel Properties
Clean Air Act Amendments of 1990. As a result The combustion properties of several fuels
of legislative initiatives the regulatory agencies, are summarised in Table I. The stoichiomemc
the automotive industry and the manufactur- airfuel ratio varies with the energy content of the
ers of emission control components are assess- fuel. The air:fuel ratio required for optimum
ing the emission characteristics of these vehi- combustion characteristics and thermal effi-
cles. At the same time, efforts are being made ciency will affect both the engine operational
to develop effective and durable emission con- parameters and the resulting exhaust gas com-
trol systems suitable for vehicle fleets and pro- position, which determines the after-treatment
totype engines being developed for future auto- strategy. This is highlighted below for natural
motive markets. Part of this development gas and methanol fuelled vehicles.
involves the catalytic converter technology For natural gas vehicles, the high stoichio-
already installed on over 150 million gasoline- metric air:fuel ratio implies that at an air flow
powered vehicles to reduce hydrocarbons, car- rate comparable to that through gasoline engines
bon monoxide and oxides of nitrogen (1). This a relatively low concentration of fuel will flow
same technology offers considerable potential through the combustion chamber, thereby lim-
for responding to the emission control chal- iting the power generated by the engine. For
lenges associated with alternative fuelled vehi- lean bum engines where the airfuel ratio is even
cles. This paper discusses the emissions from higher, typically around 1.5 times the stoichio-
such vehicles and how they differ from gaso- metric value, turbochargers are usually used to
Combustion
Combustion Properties
Properties forfor Several
Several Fuels
Fuels
Energy, Energy
Energy relative
relative to to Stoichiometric
Stoichiometric NFNF
Fuel
Fuel MJIkg gasoline
gasoline ratio
ratio
Gasoline
Gasoline 42.9
42.9 1.oo
1.oo 14.6
14.6
~ Diesel
Diesel 42.5
42.5 0.99
0.99 14.5
14.5
~ Natural
Natural gas
gas 50.1
50.1 1.17
1.17 17.2
17.2
Propane
Propane 46.1
46.1 1.08
1.08 15.6
15.6
Ethanol
Ethanol 26.9
26.9 0.63
0.63 9.09.0
Methanol
Methanol 19.9
19.9 0.46
0.46 6.56.5
M85'
M85' 23.5
23.5 0.55
0.55 I 7.67.6
increase fuel throughput. As a consequence, fuel injection components, which must be com-
the potential for oil leaks increases. Such leaks patible with the corrosive nature of methanol.
have been know to poison the activity of emis- Injector plugging can alter fuel calibration and
sion control catalysts, necessitating limitations affect the aidfuel control needed for maximis-
on the additives that can be used in lubricating ing emission control catalyst performance.
oils. Methanol fuel presents an opposite sce- The usual representation of the emissions
nario: to support fuel combustion the high fuel from internal combustion engines is shown as
concentration requires special fuel pumps and Figure 1. The characteristics are generic for all
Sioichiomeiric mix
m m - w a y catalyst
Lean Engine
burn mtsfire
region Lean
flame
out
\Carbon monoxid4 a
I I 1 1 I
0.70 > 116 1 33 170 200
AIR FUEL EQUIVALENCE RATIO
Fig. 1 Engine-out emissions from internal combustion engines show the effect of different
air:fuel ratios. The fuel-richregion is that where the ratio is less than 1.0, while in the lean
region the &:fuel ratio is greater than 1
Fig. 2 Performance characteristics for a three-way catalyst having the air:fuel window
optimised for gasoline fuelled vehicles
hydrocarbons andlor oxygenated fuels. and decreases as the air:fuel mixture becomes
Hydrocarbon emissions are high at low airfuel fuel-rich, and in the lean bum regime. Gasoline
ratios (fuel-rich), decrease to a minimum at fuelled vehicles are generally calibrated to oper-
lean-of-stoichiometry and increase again in the ate near stoichiometry, with a closed loop sys-
lean bum regime as the combustion temperature tem utilising an oxygen sensor and a “three-
is lowered by dilution with excess air. Carbon way” emission control catalyst, which is
monoxide emission parallels that for hydrocar- optimised for the simultaneous oxidation of
bons in the fuel-rich regime as it drops at stoi- hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide, and the
chiometry but remains low in the lean bum reduction of nitrogen oxides, see Figure 2.
regime. However, the emission of nitrogen The primary means of removing gaseous
oxides is high on the lean side of stoichiometry hydrocarbons from exhaust emissions is via
Table II
Typical Aldehyde Emissions for Light Duty Vehicles, mg/mile FTP Test
Fuel
I Engine-out Tail pipe (1)
Gasoline 50 -1 00 3-10
Ethanol (2) 350 70-100
Methanol 300 15-30
Methanol (3) 270 3-10
(1) Tail pipe data shown for conventional three-way catalyst technology in underfloor position
(2) Ethanol data for open loop calburened vehicles
(3) Fuel injected vehicles with close coupled catalysts
Table 111
\
mation, though it is a powerful greenhouse gas.
While current and near term emission standards
are generally based on non-methane hydrocar-
bon (NMHC), moves are underway to intro-
duce legislation that will use a total hydrocarbon \ /
Fig. 9 The percentage of nitrogen oxide con- dation is characterised by high light-off tem-
verted corresponding to the Conversion of peratures. Oxidation catalysts containing
methane, ethane and propane shown in Figure platinum metals are the most effective for the
8. The conversions occur over p1atinum:rhod-
ium three way catalyst and the stoichiomet- oxidation of methane (10, 11) and have been
ric aufuel ratio is at R = l optimised to suppress hydrocarbons and car-
propane bon monoxide in the exhaust of lean bum
0 ethane
o methane engines. Efforts are underway to develop cata-
lysts to suppress nitrogen oxides emissions under
'4
I Table IV
R Value
Table V
Exhaust I
Speed,
rpm
Torque,
Nrn
temperature, Particulates,
"C 0 I2 PPm
HC'
co,
per cent
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