International

OPEN ACCESS
Journal
Of Modern Engineering Research (IJMER)

REDUCTION OF POLLUTANT FOR SI ENGINE USING

AROGON AND OXY-HYDROGEN
V.KAMAL RAJ1, Dr.N.BOSE2
*(Department of Mechanical Engineering, Mepco Schlenk Engineering College, India
Email: kamalraj121091@gmail.com)
** (Department Department of Mechanical Engineering, Mepco Schlenk Engineering College, India
Email: nbose@mepcoeng.ac.in)

ABSTRACT: Reducing
Reducing the
the emission
emission associated
associated with
with oil
oil combustion
combustion is
is gaining
gaining increasing
increasing interest
interest
worldwide.
worldwide. Due Due to to their
their dangerous
dangerous effects
effects on
on human
human health,
health, vegetation
vegetation and and climate,
climate, various
various pre-
pre-
combustion,
combustion, in-cylinder
in-cylinder andand post
post combustion
combustion techniques
techniques havehave been
been tried
tried for
for their
their abatement.
abatement. TheThe
combustion
combustion of of aa hydrocarbon
hydrocarbon fuel fuel with
with air
air produces
produces mainly
mainly Carbon
Carbon dioxide(CO
dioxide(CO22)) and
and Water(H
Water(H22O).
O).
However,
However, internal
internal combustion
combustion engines
engines areare not
not perfectly
perfectly efficient,
efficient, so
so some
some of of the
the fuel
fuel is
is not
not burned,
burned, which
which
results
results in
in the
the presence
presence of of Hydrocarbons(HC)
Hydrocarbons(HC) other other organic
organic compounds,
compounds, Carbon Carbon monoxide(CO)
monoxide(CO) and and
forming
forming mainly
mainly Nitric
Nitric oxide
oxide (NO).
(NO). InIn this
this project,
project, Oxy-Hydrogen
Oxy-Hydrogen gas gas hashas been
been introduced
introduced as as an
an
alternative
alternative clean
clean source
source ofof energy.
energy. TheThe results
results show
show that
that aa mixture
mixture of of HHO,
HHO, air,air, and
and fuel
fuel cause
cause aa
reduction
reduction in in the
the concentration
concentration of of pollutant
pollutant constituents
constituents except
except NOx
NOx and and an an enhancement
enhancement in in Engine
Engine
efficiency.
efficiency. The
The Argon
Argon inert
inert gas
gas isis used
used toto dilute
dilute the
the intake
intake air
air of
of aa spark
spark ignition
ignition engine
engine to
to decrease
decrease
Nitrogen
Nitrogen Oxides
Oxides and and due
due to
to insufficient
insufficient Oxygen,
Oxygen, Carbon
Carbon monoxide(CO)
monoxide(CO) increases.
increases. TheThe project
project reviews
reviews all
all
workable
workable measures
measures takentaken so
so far
far to
to controlling
controlling the
the combustion
combustion generated
generated emissions
emissions from
from 4-stroke
4-stroke Spark
Spark
Ignition
Ignition and
and Compression
Compression Ignition
Ignition Vehicular
Vehicular Engines. As a result, system of Oxy-Hydrogen and Argon
cylinder
cylinder are
are made
made intointo single
single system
system which
which isis made
made toto inject
inject into
into the
the engine.
engine. ThisThis integration
integration helps
helps to
to
minimize
minimize thethe drawbacks
drawbacks of of both
both system
system which
which were
were evolved
evolved when
when itit is
is used
used individually.
individually. Result
Result ofof the
the
project
project infers
infers that
that reduction
reduction inin emission
emission of of pollutant
pollutant is
is achieved.
achieved.

Keywords
Keywords :: Argon,
Argon, Carbon
Carbon monoxide,
monoxide, dilution,
dilution, Nitrous oxide(NO), Oxy-Hydrogen, Water.
Nitrous oxide(NO),

I. INTRODUCTION
In recent years the ambient temperature of earth has raised from 25C to 30C. Pollution is the introduction of
contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of chemical
substance or energy such as noise, heat or light. Pollutants, the components of pollution can be either foreign
substance/energy or naturally occurring contaminant, where air pollution has more impact on environment as
the pollutant can disperse easily into air and reach longer area. From many survey it has been founded that
industries were emitting more pollutant and automobile were stands second.

Due to rapid growth in economy, population trends shows that, the global registration of vehicle jumps from
980 million in 2009 to 1.015 billion in 2010, according to WARDSAUTO Association [1]. Emission from IC
Engine which burns fossil fuel have pollutants like NO X, CO, HC, CO2, PM, SO2 and some other constituents
that present in fuel along with normal combustion products water and Carbon monoxide. Global warming is
caused by lower level ozone which is formed by NOX. These NOX reacts with fog forming lower level ozone.
This ozone will prevent the IR rays from escaping and redirect back to earth, which causes rise in the earth
temperature.

Each and every pollutant has its own effect on living beings and environment. The menace of vehicular
emission was first recognized as serious threat in 1950s. When Californian encountered with photochemical
smog by knowing cause of deterioration of the automobile tries by high concentration of ground level ozone.
Photochemical smog, a secondary pollution from vehicle exhaust, is produced by the reaction of volatile

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organic compound (VOC) and nitrogen oxide in the presence of sunlight. After this all nations were started to
rise their hand against automobile pollution and strictly framed the regulation against emissions. Typically in a
4-stroke S.I engine [2] the pollutants in the exhaust are found in relative amount of the order: NOx 500 ~
1000ppm (20g/kg fuel); CO 1 ~2% (200g/kg of fuel) and UBHC 3000ppm (as C1) (25g/kg fuel). Apart from
combustion-generated pollutants other sources of UHBC are piston blow-by gases, fuel evaporation and
subsequent release to atmosphere through fuel tank vents and from carburetor after engine shut down.

Major pollutants from engine are CO, HC and NO X. Carbon monoxide is formed mainly due to improper
combustion of fuel. This occur due to improper supply of oxygen for combustion of fuel. For combustion
Hydrocarbon is sprayed inside the cylinder or combustion chamber by fuel injection system. When excess fuel
were supplied, only partial fuel will react with oxygen and get combusted, and the remaining will get escape
along with exhaust gases. Oxides of Nitrogen (NO X) are not easily formed on atmospheric condition. This will
form only at high temperature under high pressure. Most of the oxides are unstable but NO and NO 2 are stable,
these compounds are mostly found in exhaust gas of heavy load engine.

Automobile manufacturers also started to work on technologies to reduce the emission. Some of the
technologies are catalytic convertor, diesel particulate filter, electronic fuel injection system, high power
ignition system, gasoline reformation, alternative fuels, reduction in compression ratio, retardation of ignition
timing, modification of combustion chamber geometry, etc [3]. Even though many technologies were developed,
none of the control measures worked on controlling all pollutants. For example, catalytic convertor will not
start until it reaches the operating temperature. The period of reaching the operating temperature is called
light-off period[4]. In this period the emission will be more.

Pollution should be controlled by preventing the pollutant from source, many researches are going on gasoline
reformation and alternative fuel for reducing the fuel consumption and emission. Under research there are
many alternate fuels were considered which has less number of polluting molecules. Some of them are
methanol, hydrogen, LPG, CNG, etc. In recent years researchers were more interested in using hydrogen as a
replacement for fossil fuels. Hydrogen has more calorific value than commercially available fuels. It can be
used in both SI and CI engine as additive fuel. This character helps in enhancing the engine which is already
in sale. Hydrogen combust with air produces water and heat as products of combustion. When compared to
normal fossil fuel, hydrogen is not producing any harmful products directly, but due to high calorific value it
produces more heat energy which cause the nitrogen in the cylinder to get react with oxygen and forms oxides
of nitrogen [7,8]. These NOX are responsible for lower level ozone formation. Though hydrogen is producing
NOX, it produce more positives like good fuel efficiency, high brake power, reduced smoke, reduced HC release
and complete combustion of fuel.

Engine has to withstand the heat which is produced in the engine. Hydrogen can be used directly as fuel only
on specially designed engine because of heat produced during combustion. It produces more heat and high
temperature inside the cylinder, this causes the normal engine to get damage. So the hydrogen can be used as
supplementary fuel in IC engines. Hydrogen storage is highly hazardous because of its explosive limit and low
ignition energy, this seeks hydrogen to be produced on demand. Electrolytic fuel cells are used for producing
hydrogen on-demand and this system has excellent mobility character and efficiency. As hydrogen has high
diffusivity and low density it will disperse all over the engine. Due to its low ignition energy hydrogen will get
ignited easily, results in complete combustion. This complete combustion will enhance the engine performance.
It also reduces emission of unburnt fuel particles like HC and CO with increase in the hydrogen concentration
in the combustion chamber. But NOX value increases with increase in hydrogen concentration. [5]

Argon is a noble gas which is available 3rd in the Earths atmosphere, at 0.93% and accounts23.8 times as
abundant as the next common atmospheric gas. Argon has complete Octet in the outer atomic shell makes
argon stable and resistant to bonding with other elements. Argon gas is used in incandescent and fluorescent
lighting, and other type of discharge light. Since argon has lower specific heat capacity (0.528 KJ/Kg K) and
high specific heat ratio (1.667), it can absorb more heat and release it instantaneously. These characters are
used for cooling the combustion chamber and prevent the formation of NO X from the exhaust gas. Oxides of
nitrogen, Oxygen, Nitrogen and Carbon dioxide concentration decreases with increase in argon concentration.
But the formation of Carbon monoxide will increase. This is due to insufficient supply of oxygen for
combustion. This insufficiency is caused by Argon gas supply. This affect the engine combustion and also
engine performance[6].

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As literature says none of the control measures work on all pollutant singly, an attempt is made to integrate
two system to control the pollution caused by engines, such as Oxy-Hydrogen and Argon where going to
injected into the engine to find the effect on controlling pollution .

Properties Petrol hydrogen

Auto-Ignition Temperature(K) 533-733 858
Minimum Ignition Energy(mJ) 0.24 0.02
Flammability Limit(T) 1.4-7.6 4-75
Air-fuel ratio 14.6 34.3
Calorific value(MJ/Kg K) 43.9 120
Flame velocity(cm/s) 37-43 265-325
OCTANE number 92-98 130

Table 1: Comparison of various properties of Fuel

2 EXPERIMENTAL SETUP
The intake of the engine is modified to control the flow rate of Oxy-hydrogen and Argon. This section will
represent the experimental apparatus and experimental procedure.

2.1 Experimental Apparatus

Experimental study has been conducted by using ISUZU petrol engine. The technical specification of the
engine is given in table 2. The laboratory consists of test rig involving an eddy current-type dynamometer,
exhaust gas emission analyzer, fuel metering device and other auxiliary equipment.

Table 2: Engine specification

Sl No Description Value

1 Make ISUZU

2 Number of cylinders 4

3 Cooling Water

4 Fuel Petrol

5 Speed 1400-1500 RPM

7 Bore diameter 0.091 m

8 Stroke length 0.073 m

9 Compression ratio 8.3:1

10 Brake power 10hp at 1500 RPM.

Hydrogen gas is produced using electrolytic fuel cell. This system has advantage of continuous supply of Oxy-
Hydrogen about 600mLPM as needed for running the engine. Fuel cell has flashback arrester for avoiding
backfire which can result in explosion. Oxy-Hydrogen gas which is produced in fuel cell is feed into engine
through air hose.

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DYNAMO
METER ENGIN
ENGIN ENGINE
GAS
E
E ANALYSER EXHAUST

Figure 1: Experimental setup

Stored cylinder of Argon gas is used for supplying gas to engine. As like HHO, Argon is also made to flow
along with intake air. Argon is made to supply 10% to the concentration of intake air because to maintain its
specific heat ratio nearly equal to air. Too much dilution of air causes increase in Mean Effective Pressure for
combustion which affects the combustion of fuel. Both the Argon and HHO flow are controlled by flow control
valve.

2.2 Experimental Procedure

The tests were carried out at the engine speed of 1500rpm with argon supply of about 10% of intake air i.e.
171ml. Oxy-Hydrogen is supplied to the engine at the rate of 150, 300 and 500ml respectively with the help of
flow control valve to evaluate the amount of emission get decreased.

3 RESULTS & DISCUSSIONS

3.1 Load vs. Oxygen
Figure2 infers that O2 increases with increase in HHO gas quantity. Argon dilute the intake air causing oxygen
deficiency which is balanced by HHO gas in the system. As Oxy- Hydrogen has 25% of Oxygen in its own
account, Oxygen evolution at exhaust is more. HHO(500ml) gas with petrol have more oxygen quantity, whereas
argon with petrol have lowest oxygen quantity. This excess oxygen quantity helps in complete combustion.

Fig. 2: Load vs. Oxygen

3.2 Load vs. Carbon monoxide

Figure 3.2 infers that CO decreases with increase in HHO quantity. Hydrogen and oxygen supplied to engine
helps in the complete combustion of fuel. It has been shown that introducing HHO gas to the combustion
enhances the combustion efficiency which implies, enhancement in thermal efficiency and specific fuel

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consumption. This diatomic configuration of HHO gas (H2, O2) results in efficient combustion because the
hydrogen and oxygen atoms interact directly without any ignition propagation delays due to surface travel time
of the reaction. Due to its higher diffusivity, it reaches even the interior fuel particles and cause ignition and
exposing fuel for complete combustion reaction. This effectively enriches the air/fuel ratio since more fuel is
now available to burn. HHO(500ml) gas with petrol has lower CO emission where argon with petrol have higher
CO emission. When comparing CO emission level of petrol with the integrated system of Argon and HHO (500ml),
integrated system has lower CO emission over 45%. Integrated system lag to pure HHO (500ml) system by 7%.
Load vs. Oxides of Nitrogen

Fig. 3: Load vs. Carbon monoxide

3.3 Load vs. Oxides of Nitrogen

Figure 3.3 infers that NOX decreases with addition of Argon. At low temperatures atmospheric nitrogen exists
as a stable diatomic molecule N2. Therefore, only very small trace of oxides of nitrogen are found. The higher
the combustion reaction temperature, more dissociation takes place and more NO X will be formed. At this
condition with an excess of oxygen can combine with the nitrogen to form various oxides. Combustion
duration also plays a significant role in NO X formation within the cylinder. As the percentage of oxygen blend
increases NOX will increase. Since the Argon has low specific heat capacity, it absorbs more heat than air and
decrease the exhaust gas temperature. As the exhaust gas has low temperature, Nitrogen atom cannot
effectively react with oxygen for NOX formation. Dilution of air also helps in displacing Nitrogen content
inside the cylinder, preventing the amount of Nitrogen to take part in combustion.
On adding HHO along with Argon it causes more dilution of Nitrogen. But due to its higher
combustion temperature, it produces more NO X than normal Argon System. Integrated system achieves 21%
less NOX level than petrol exhaust. And it lags to Argon system by 7%.

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Fig. 4: Load vs. Oxides of Nitrogen

CONCLUSION
The main conclusion of above dissertation report is that increasing concentration of Oxy- Hydrogen gas in
intake air of 4-stroke petrol engine cause complete combustion of fuel and has less quantity of CO at exhaust.
This diatomic configuration of HHO gas (H2, O2) results in efficient combustion, because the hydrogen and
oxygen atoms interact directly without any ignition propagation delays due to surface travel time of the
reaction. On ignition, its flame front flashes through the cylinder at a much higher velocity than in ordinary
gasoline/air combustion. But due to high calorific value of Hydrogen atom, high temperature is produced
inside the engine core, this increases the formation of NO X.

Argon injection at air intake of 4-stroke petrol engine causes the dilution of intake air concentration. This will
reduce the concentration of nitrogen gas inside the cylinder. Since argon has high specific heat ratio and low
specific heat capacity, it absorbs more heat than air while burning. This helps in controlling the formation of
NOX inside the cylinder. Due to dilution of air, the Oxygen concentration also get decreases inside the cylinder
which causes incomplete combustion and more CO is emitted.
When HHO and Argon is introduced to the system, the average concentration of carbon monoxide has been
reduced to almost 45% as compared to that of air/fuel mixture.
The concentration of nitrogen oxide has been reduced to almost 21% on average when HHO and Argon is
introduced to the system.
The concentration of Oxygen is also balanced to 21% for overall combustion of fuel through integrated
system.

References
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Books:
[2] Heywood, John B. Internal Combustion Engines FundamentalsMcGraw-Hill, 1998.
Journal Papers:
[3] Burch, S. D., Potter, T. F., Keyser, M. A., Brady, M. J., Michaels, K. F., 1995: "Reducing Cold-Start emissions by
Catalytic Converter Thermal Management." SAE Technical Paper#950409, Warrendale, PA: Society of Automotive
Engineers.

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[5] T.Karthikeya Sharma, (2014) Performance and Emission Characteristics of the Thermal Barrier Coated SI Engine by
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