Hydrocarbon unburned

In a general manner, diesel engines, jet engines, and domestic or industrial burners operate with lean mixtures and their performance is relatively insensitive to the equivalence ratio. On the other hand, gasoline engines require a fuel-air ratio close to the stoichiometric. Indeed, a too-rich mixture leads to an excessive exhaust pollution from CO emissions and unburned hydrocarbons whereas a too-lean mixture produces unstable combustion (reduced driveability and misfiring). 

These are carbon monoxide, CO, unburned hydrocarbons (HC), and the nitrogen oxides, NO. In the U.S.A., a program called Auto/Oil (Burns et al., 1992), conducted by automotive manufacturers and petroleum companies, examined the effect of overall parameters of fuel composition on evaporative emissions and in the exhaust gases. The variables examined were the aromatics content between 20 and 45%, the olefins content between 5 and 20%, the MTBE content between 0 and 15% and finally the distillation end point between 138 and 182°C (more exactly, the 95% distilled point). 

Since the 1960 s, two ideas have gained our attention the struggle against pollution before the first oil crisis of 1973 and the diminution of consumption since. One can consider, in fact, that the two objectives are linked. Indeed, any maladjustment of a fuel admission system will modify the equivalence ratio of the mix. The consequences are modifications, on one hand, of the consumption and on the other, of the nature and the quantity of pollutants emitted CO, NO, and unburned hydrocarbons. 

The development of catalytic converters for combustion of unburned hydrocarbons prohibits a return to lead compounds and henceforth refiners are turning to oxygenated compounds that must be used as a gasoline component therefore, in amounts much greater than those of lead compounds. 

Products of Combustion For lean mixtures, the products of combustion (POC) of a sulfur-free fuel consist of carbon dioxide, water vapor, nitrogen, oxygen, and possible small amounts of carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbon species. Figure 27-12 shows the effect of fuel-air ratio on the flue gas composition resulting from the combustion of natural gas. In the case of solid and liquid fuels, the... 

Pollutant Formation and Control in Flames Key combustion-generated air pollutants include nitrogen oxides (NOJ, sulfur oxides (principally SO9), particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and unburned hydrocarbons. 

Unbumed Hydrocarbons Various unburned hydrocarbon species may be emitted from hydrocarbon flames. In general, there are two classes of unburned hydrocarbons (1) small molecules that are the intermediate products of combustion (for example, formaldehyde) and (2) larger molecules that are formed by pyro-synthesis in hot, fuel-rich zones within flames, e.g., benzene, toluene, xylene, and various polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Many of these species are listed as Hazardous Air Pollutants (HAPs) in Title III of the Clean Air Act Amendment of 1990 and are therefore of particular concern. In a well-adjusted combustion system, emission or HAPs is extremely low (typically, parts per trillion to parts per billion). However, emission of certain HAPs may be of concern in poorly designed or maladjusted systems. 

List the following in increasing amounts from the exhaust of an idling automobile Oj, NOj, SOj, N2, unburned hydrocarbons, CO2, and CO. 

Although water injection is still used, dry control combustion technology has become the preferred method for the major players in the industrial power generation market. DLN (Dry Low NOx) was the first acronym to be coined, but with the requirement to control NOx without increasing carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons this has now become DLL (Dry Low Emissions). 

Combustion processes are the most important source of air pollutants. Normal products of complete combustion of fossil fuel, e.g. coal, oil or natural gas, are carbon dioxide, water vapour and nitrogen. However, traces of sulphur and incomplete combustion result in emissions of carbon monoxide, sulphur oxides, oxides of nitrogen, unburned hydrocarbons and particulates. These are primary pollutants . Some may take part in reactions in the atmosphere producing secondary pollutants , e.g. photochemical smogs and acid mists. Escaping gas, or vapour, may... 

Unlike carbon dioxide and water that are the inevitable by products of complete combustion of hydrocarbons, species such as carbon monoxide, ethene, toluene, and formaldehyde can be emitted because combustion has been interrupted before completion. Many factors lead to emissions from incomplete combustion. Emitted unburned hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide are regulated pollutants that must be eliminated. In automobiles with spark ignited engines, these emissions are almost entirely removed by the catalytic converter. 

Elydrocarbons of many different types are present in exliaust gas. In the presence of nitrogen oxide and sunlight, they form oxidants that irritate the mucous membranes. Some hydrocarbons are considered to be carcinogenic. Incomplete combustion produces unburned hydrocarbons. 

The second method used to reduce exliaust emissions incorporates postcombustion devices in the form of soot and/or ceramic catalytic converters. Some catalysts currently employ zeolite-based hydrocarbon-trapping materials acting as molecular sieves that can adsorb hydrocarbons at low temperatures and release them at high temperatures, when the catalyst operates with higher efficiency. Advances have been made in soot reduction through adoption of soot filters that chemically convert CO and unburned hydrocarbons into harmless CO, and water vapor, while trapping carbon particles in their ceramic honeycomb walls. Both soot filters and diesel catalysts remove more than 80 percent of carbon particulates from the exliatist, and reduce by more than 90 percent emissions of CO and hydrocarbons. 

Natural gas will continue to be substituted for oil and coal as primary energy source in order to reduce emissions of noxious combustion products particulates (soot), unburned hydrocarbons, dioxins, sulfur and nitrogen oxides (sources of acid rain and snow), and toxic carbon monoxide, as well as carbon dioxide, which is believed to be the chief greenhouse gas responsible for global warming. Policy implemented to curtail carbon emissions based on the perceived threat could dramatically accelerate the switch to natural gas. 

The combustion of gas produces little in the way of noxious substances. Ideal combustion will produce only water vapor, carbon dioxide and nitrogen. In practice, there may well be very small amounts of hydrogen, carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons, notably methane. 

Acid rain erodes buildings, particularly those constructed from limestone. It has been reported that the Acropolis in Athens has suffered more deterioration in the last 20 years than in the previous 2000. Acidic gases are produced directly by the combination of oxides of sulfur and oxides of nitrogen with water and also by more complex processes involving unburned hydrocarbons and ozone in the atmosphere. 

Perhaps the most familiar example of heterogeneous catalysis is the series of reactions that occur in the catalytic converter of an automobile (Figure 11.12). Typically this device contains 1 to 3 g of platinum metal mixed with rhodium. The platinum catalyzes the oxidation of carbon monoxide and unburned hydrocarbons such as benzene, C6H6 ... 

The catalytic converter on a car uses a precious-metal-based, solid catalyst, usually in the form of a monolith, to convert unburned hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide to carbon dioxide. Many different reactants are converted to two products CO2 and water. 

Dorai, R. and Kushner, M.J. (2003) Consequences of unburned hydrocarbons on microstreamer dynamics and chemistry during plasma remediation of NOx using dielectric barrier discharges, J. Phys. D Appl. Phys. 36, 1075-83. 

When rhodium is combined with platinum and palladium, the elements together form the internal metals of automobile catalytic converters, which convert hot unburned hydrocarbon exhaust gases to less harmful CO and H O. Similar alloys are used to manufacture high-temperature products such as electric coils for metal refining furnaces and high-temperature spark plugs. 

A water-cooled sampling probe of internal diameter 1 mm and external diameter 5 mm with a 3-meter long heated line was used to measure concentrations of unburned hydrocarbon (flame ionization detector, Analysis Automation, 520) and NOj (chemiluminescence analyzer, Thermal Environment Instruments, 42) at the combustor exit on a wet basis. The former, measured to a precision of the order of 1 ppm, was used to ensure complete consumption of fuel within the duct, and the latter with a precision of around 0.2 ppm was used to quantify the effect of oscillations on NOj. emissions. 

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