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This paper describes the results of a study that examined the mechanism of phased perturbation as an emissions control technique. Phased perturbation involves independently controlling the fuel delivered to each bank of a dual bank engine (or each cylinder of a single manifold engine), which allows the two banks to have an adjustable, relative Air/Fuel (A/F) perturbation phase-shift from one another. The phase shifted exhaust is then recombined to achieve a near stoichiometric mixture prior to entering a single underbody catalyst. Phase shifting the exhaust Air/Fuel ratio creates a situation in which both rich exhaust constituents (unburnt hydrocarbons and carbon monoxide) and lean exhaust constituents (oxygen and oxides of nitrogen) arrive at the catalyst at the same time. The results of the study showed that phased perturbation produced a significant effect on A/F control and catalyst THC, CO, and NOx efficiency.

A non-thermal plasma treatment of diesel engine exhaust was effective in removing particulate (soot) and oxides of nitrogen (NOx) from two different light-duty diesel vehicles: an older-technology indirect-injection Toyota truck, and a newer-technology direct-injection Dodge truck. Particulate removal efficiencies and NOx conversion efficiencies were determined at space velocities up to 20,000/hr. Particulate removal efficiencies were above 60 percent for most conditions, but decreased with increasing space velocities. Conversion efficiencies for NOx and carbon monoxide (CO) were also dependent on the space velocity. The NOx conversion efficiencies were generally greater than 40 percent at space velocities less than 7000/hr. The CO concentration increased through the plasma reaction bed indicating that CO was produced by reactions in the plasma.

Improvements in diesel engine design to reduce particulate emissions levels, and a recent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ruling limiting the maximum sulfur content in diesel fuel, enhanced the viability of catalytic aftertreatment for this market. The Department of Emissions Research, Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), under contract from the Engine Manufacturers Association, (EMA), conducted a search to identify flow-through catalyst technologies available to reduce particulate emissions without trapping. The search revealed a variety of catalyst formulations, washcoats, and substrate designs which were screened on a light-duty diesel. Based on the performance of eighteen converters evaluated, several designs were selected to continue experimentation on a modern technology heavy-duty diesel engine.

Exhaust emission data from several fuel effects studies were normalized and subjected to statistical analyses. The goal of this work was to determine whether emission effects of property variation in alternate-source fuels were similar, less pronounced, or more pronounced than the effects of property variation in petroleum fuels. A literature search was conducted, reviewing hundreds of studies and finally selecting nine which dealt with fuel property effects on emissions. From these studies, 15 test cases were reported. Due to the wide variety of vehicles, fuels, test cycles, and measurement techniques used in the studies, a method to relate them all in terms of general trends was developed. Statistics and methods used included bivariate correlation coefficients, regression analysis, scattergrams and goodness-of-fit determinations.