Search Results

This paper describes a new method for measuring oil consumption using laser induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS). LIBS focuses a high energy laser pulse on a sample to form a transient plasma. As the plasma cools, each element produces atomic emission lines which can be used to identify and quantify the elements present in the original sample. In this work, a LIBS system was used on simulated engine exhaust with a focus on quantifying the inorganic components (termed ash) of the particulate emissions. Because some of the metallic elements in the ash almost exclusively result from lube oil consumption, their concentrations can also be correlated to an oil consumption rate. Initial testing was performed using SwRI’s Exhaust Composition Transient Operation Laboratory®(ECTO-Lab®) burner system so that oil consumption and ash mass could be precisely controlled.

Mitigation of urea deposit formation and improved ammonia production at low exhaust temperatures continues to be one of the most significant challenges for current generation selective catalytic reduction (SCR) aftertreatment systems. Various technologies have been devised to alleviate these issues including: use of alternative reductant sources, and thermal treatment of the urea-water solution (UWS) pre-injection. The objective of this work was to expand the knowledge base of a potential third option, which entails chemical modification of UWS by addition of a titanium-based urea/isocyanic acid (HNCO) decomposition catalysts and/or surfactant to the fluid. Physical solid mixtures of urea with varying concentrations of ammonium titanyl oxalate (ATO), oxalic acid, and titanium dioxide (TiO2) were generated, and the differences in NH3 and CO2 produced upon thermal decomposition were quantified.

Exhaust emissions of non-methane hydrocarbon (NMHC) and methane were measured from a Tier 3 dual-fuel demonstration locomotive running diesel-natural gas blend. Measurements were performed with the typical flame ionization detector (FID) method in accordance with EPA CFR Title 40 Part 1065 and with an alternative Fourier-Transform Infrared (FTIR) Spectroscopy method. Measurements were performed with and without oxidation catalyst exhaust aftertreatment. FTIR may have potential for improved accuracy over the FID when NMHC is dominated by light hydrocarbons. In the dual fuel tests, the FTIR measurement was 1-4% higher than the FID measurement of. NMHC results between the two methods differed considerably, in some cases reporting concentrations as much as four times those of the FID. However, in comparing these data it is important to note that the FTIR method has several advantages over the FID method, so the differences do not necessarily represent error in the FTIR.