Identification of Nitration Products during Heterogeneous Reaction of NO on Soot in the Dark and under Simulated Sunlight.

Author: The present work, involving the formation of NO and nitrous acid (HONO) and the nitration of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) to nitro-PAHs as well as the uptake coefficients of NO, has been performed on a normal-pressure flow reactor to identify the nitration products during the heterogeneous reaction of soot toward NO in the dark and under simulated sunlight. Two types of soot particles, namely the commercial black carbon (BC) and the diesel engine soot (ES), were selected as the studied soot to compare the impacts of soot properties on heterogeneous nitration. During the whole reaction on either of the two studied soots in the dark, a fast reversible physical adsorption is observed at the very beginning, followed by a slow irreversible chemical conversion from NO to HONO and NO, in good agreement with the "reduction-oxidation" mechanism.

Experimental study on particulate and NOx emissions of a diesel engine fueled with ultra low sulfur diesel, RME-diesel blends and PME-diesel blends.

Ultra low sulfur diesel and two different kinds of biodiesel fuels blended with baseline diesel fuel in 5% and 20% v/v were tested in a Cummins 4BTA direct injection diesel engine, with a turbocharger and an intercooler. Experiments were conducted under five engine loads at two steady speeds (1500 rpm and 2500 rpm). The study aims at investigating the engine performance, NO(x) emission, smoke opacity, PM composition, PM size distribution and comparing the impacts of low sulfur content of biodiesel with ULSD on the particulate emission.

Particle size distribution from a GTL engine.

Measurements of exhaust particle number concentration and size distribution from an engine fueled with GTL at different engine loads and speeds were carried out by using a two-stage dilution system. The results for GTL were compared with those from the original engine fueled with diesel. The fuel composition and engine operation condition had significant effects on the exhaust particle size distribution, the total exhaust particle number and volume concentrations.