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Producing on-board the hydrogen that is to be used as supplementary fuel by exhaust gas reforming of gasoline shows encouraging results. Extensive research has been done at the University of Birmingham towards on board generation of hydrogen-rich gaseous fuel. Exhaust gas reforming which utilizes water vapor and enthalpy from the hot engine exhaust gas was applied using a compact system of a fuel reformer reactor integrated with the three way catalytic converter (TWC). Such system can be fitted in the limited space close to the engine. The device has been designed and built in concentric shape with the catalytic converter as a core and the reformer in an annular shape outside, to best utilize the waste heat from the catalytic converter. It requires very little extra space beyond the baseline catalytic converter.

A prototype catalyst has been developed and integrated within the aftertreatment exhaust system to control the HC, CO, PM and NOx emissions from diesel exhaust gas. The catalyst activity in removing HC and nano-particles was examined with exhaust gas from a diesel engine operating on biodiesel - Rapeseed Methyl Ester (RME). The tests were carried out at steady-state conditions for short periods of time, thus catalyst tolerance to sulphur was not examined. The prototype catalyst reduced the amount of hydrocarbons (HC) and the total PM. The quantity of particulate with electrical mobility diameter in nucleation mode size < 10nm, was significantly reduced over the catalyst. Moreover, it was observed that the use of EGR (20% vol.) for the biodiesel fuelled engine significantly increases the particle concentration in the accumulation mode with simultaneous reduction in the particle concentration in the nuclei mode.