ENGINE EMISSION
Every engine has emissions and therefore the emissions can be controlled and dating it to the year, it began in Los Angeles in 1947. This started and then in 1952, Dr. Arie J. Haagen-Smit also asserted on the basis of his research that he carried out in his local environs. He could boldly say that atmospheric pollution is majorly contributed by the automotive exhaust. In a state of complete combustion process, each of the hydrocarbon present after completion of the whole process, it produces mainly 3.1kg of carbon dioxide and 1.3kg of water. There are many constituents of the emissions that are being emitted like oxides of nitrogen, unburnt hydrocarbons, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, lead salts, soot, polyaromatics, nitroolefins. I could also expose to you all that the manufacturers for catalytic converters have always wanted their clients to use unleaded petrol because it does not damage the catalytic converter. This is due to the fact that lead deposits rapidly rendered the catalytic converters ineffective after years of practical use.
These engine emissions are toxic to the human health and that is the reason why it is very important to control engine emissions, taking carbon monoxide first, it is very toxic because once inhaled, it is absorbed by the red corpuscles of the blood and this constituents in inhibiting absorption of the oxygen which is necessary for sustaining life. The direct toxicity of hydrocarbons and oxides of nitrogen, on the other hand it arises as a result of photochemical reactions between the two in sunlight, leading also to the production of other chemicals. Some unburnt hydrocarbons can come from evaporation from the carburetor float chamber and fuel tank vent and sometimes from inefficient combustion due to different reasons like faulty ignition, inadequate turbulence, poor carburation, over-rich mixture. Some other factors may arise from overcooling, large quench areas in the combustion chamber, the unavoidable presence of a quench layer of gas clinging the walls of the combustion chamber and quenching in crevices such as the clearance between the top land of the piston and the cylinder bore.
DIESEL ENGINE EMISSIONS
Many would wonder if the emissions emitted by the diesel and gasoline engine are the same or different. From the automotive experience view, I can professionally say that the diesel and the spark ignition engines produce the same emission. Starting from the point of view that the low volatility of diesel fuel relative to that of gasoline and the fact that carburetors are no longer used, evaporative emissions are not significant. Sulphur which plays a major part in the production of particulates and smoke emissions is present in larger proportions in diesel fuel than in gasoline, this is a major reason why the combustion of diesel fuel produces between 5 and 10 times more solid particles than that of petrol.
Because diesel power output is generally governed by regulating the supply of fuel without throttling the air supply, there is excess air and therefore virtually zero carbon monoxide in the exhaust under normal cruising conditions. The reduction of nitrogen oxide on the other hand can be done only in an oxygen-free atmosphere, so a three-way catalytic converter is impracticable. Normally, we all know that a diesel engine produces more torque and power after driving for a while, as the diesel engine is opened up towards maximum torque and power, the nitrogen oxide output increases because of the higher combustion temperatures and pressures. Due to the relatively low volatility of diesel fuel and the extremely short time available for evaporation, problems arise also when the engine is very cold.
We should hold unto this knowledge and see how the weekend goes, happy weekend to you all both fans and readers. I will try to engage you all to interesting contents concerning your automobile.