Reducing Gases Emitted from Car Engines Essay Example for Free

Reducing Gases Emitted from Car Engines Essay The automobile industry has become one of the leading pollutants in most urban centers today. The emission of various gases from million of vehicles in roads has contributed to major global problem. Personal cars have emerged as the most notorious ones for this problem especially when they are moving at slow speeds or idling in traffic jams. This is the time when this man made gadgets produces the maximum emissions to the atmosphere with every body around that traffic absorbing the poison. Gasoline and diesel fuels combustion produces a mixture of hydrocarbons mainly carbon atoms, hydrogen as well as oxygen. The hydrocarbons are emitted as fragments of molecules of fuels which are burned partially. They do reactions with nitrogen oxides and in sunlight’s presence to create ground level ozone which becomes a main part of smog. This Ozone is harmful to human health as well as being toxic and sometimes causes cancer. Nitrogen Oxides (NOX) is produced in conditions of high pressure and temperature in the engine. Some nitrogen and oxygen atoms form nitrogen oxides after the reaction. NOX also contribute to creation of ozone as well as acidic rains which are harmful to the environment. NO2 which is much more potential than carbon dioxide as a green house gas is produced in the engine by catalytic conversion of heavy nitrogen gases in car exhausts systems. It contributes up about 7. 2 percent of gases responsible for global warming. Carbon monoxide, a colorless, odorless and poisonous gas is emitted from car engines after incomplete combustion of hydrocarbon-based fuels. It comprises of one atom of carbon and one oxygen atom interlinked together. Jeff Cohen asserts that, these results from having too low air-to fuel ratios in the car engine during the starting process of the car or when the car is not tuned on in the proper way. 1 This also takes place in higher altitudes in which case the amount of oxygen available for burning the fuel is greatly lowered. Transportation sources especially personal cars contributes to about two thirds of carbon monoxide. Carbon dioxide has been perceived as complete combustion product but of late it has been seen as a pollutant since it is a green house gas which traps the heat from the earth resulting to global warming. Of late, Bio-diesel has come up as one of the main renewable fuels and a provider of good opportunity for getting fossil fuel alternatives that assist in reducing emission of these green gases. It is capable of creating good blends in different ratios with diesel either fresh or the used up oil. This implies that Bio-diesel when used either completely or partially with diesel fuel in deferent vehicle engines brings about some economical, environmental as well as social merits. On the other hand, while Bio-diesel contributes to these changes, it also has some challenges on the uncontrolled substances which comprises of carbonyl compounds that are released in the process of emitting the combusted bio-diesels or bio-diesel and diesel blends. Since the fuels are quite different from the normal diesel fuels, they can change the injection as well as ignition processes. Due to this, the emission of green house gases such as CO, CO2, and NOX are greatly affected. This research aims at evaluating the effects of bio-diesel on combustion of diesel fuels as well as their emissions and control in order to obtain a picture of the opportunities and challenges provided by the bio-diesel fuels. 1. Jeff, C. Does Idling Your Car Hurt Gas mileage? Solve Your Problem. com, 2007, retrieved 28 May 2009, http://www. solveyourproblem. com/save-money-on-gas/idling-car-gas-mileage. shtml. Problem statement Most the current car engines are designed to use diesel fuel which is notorious for emitting green house gases. Other engines which employ diesel and bio-diesel mixture have not indicated the most appropriate ratio of mixing the fuels and the optimum speed and rack to emit the least amount of these gases to the atmosphere. The research therefore seeks to obtain the best ration of mixing diesel with bio-diesel or waste oil and the best rack to emit the least amount of gases to the atmosphere. Theses Statement Obtaining the most appropriate ratio of mixing fuels for car engines would assist in reducing the amount of green house emitted from these cars. This would help to aviate the global challenges imposed by the foresaid problem. Objectives Main Objective The main aim of the research is to reduce the amount of green house gases emitted from car diesel engines. Specific objectives These include obtaining the best ratio of mixing several fuels; either diesel with bio-diesel, diesel with waste oil or bio-diesel with waste oil or the best engine speed and rack for this. Scope of the research The research would investigate the most appropriate ratio of mixing different fuels but it has some limitations of financial resources and time. Literature Review There is much concern all over the globe to reduce the emission of green house gases by 10% in the near future. Much emphasis has been on emissions of these gases from transportation fuels. In 2005, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) New Delhi came up with a passenger car engine that operated on bio-diesel fuel. This was developed from modifications of the traditional Indica diesel engine that was made some few years ago. The engine used 10 per cent of bio-diesel fuel mixed with diesel to operate the engine. This development, however experiences some significant challenges in that it would take a lot of duration for any manufacture to come up with fully developed bio-diesel engine cars. In March 2009, United Environment and Energy LLC chemists came up with fixed-bed reactor design that was considered energy-efficient and high through in put continuous flow. It was perceived as cost-effective for production of algae oil bio-diesel. This was termed as the first economical approach in production of bio-diesel from algae oil. Although, the design has been able to reduce cost by 40% it did not reduce the emission of green house gases to an effective percentage. Tsinghua University researchers in China in May 2009 tried to use sugarcane juice as a good feedstock indented for production of bio-diesel if utilized to give support to alga Chlorella protothecoides through the process of heterotrophic fermentation. This produced oil content of about 53. 0% by weight of dry cell. In May 2009, Iowa State University Researchers presented a proposal on dissolution of waste polystyrene (PS) in bio-diesel. This aimed at making the bio-diesel for consumption in motor vehicles more so in diesel engines as an approach to recover energy from the waste plastic. The researchers pointed out that the use of polystyrene-bio-diesel blends would lead to increase in engine power thus reduced emissions of green house gases. This still intents increase polystyrene concentrations with 5% as per the study. To help reduce the emissions of green house gases, Tom Harkin and some US senators, in June 2009 proposed to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to halt inclusion of in direct land use change effects as contributor to life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions in rule making indented for carrying out updated Renewable Fuels Standard that demands all bio-fuels to meet some defined life-cycle green house gas emission reduction targets prior to qualification. This research intents to come up with a more convenient approach of reducing the gases emitted from motor car diesel engines by obtaining the most optimum ratio of mixing bio-diesel, waste oil and diesel in car engine at the optimum engine speed. Research Methodology The research is conducted by experimenting the amount of green gases released from a diesel engine when diesel, bio-diesel, and waste oil are used at different to obtain different engine torques while the engine is increases from initial speed of 1500 rpm to 3200 rpm. The three fuels are used either purely or mixed with each other at different ratios while the rack is either maintained at 50% or at 100%. The amount of gases emitted for each condition is recorded in a table. The calves for the different gases emitted obtained at different speeds and racks are then plotted in several graphs. This is used to obtain the best fuel mixture and optimum speed and rack which release the least amount of gases to the atmosphere.