This invention relates to reducing oxides of nitrogen (NOx) in the exhaust of hydrocarbon-fueled, internal combustion engines (such as gasoline or diesel engines), and more particularly to using hydrogen generators, such as catalytic partial oxidizers (CPOx), non-catalytic (homogeneous) partial oxidizers (POx), or auto thermal reformers (ATR), to generate from engine fuel, water and/or air, streams including hydrogen and carbon monoxide for reducing NOx in catalytic converters or regenerating NOx trap adsorbents.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has set, for 2007 and beyond, vehicle internal combustion engine emission requirements; one exemplary requirement for diesel engines, is NOx and non-methane hydrocarbons below 0.20 grams bhp-hr and 0.14 grams/bhp-hr, respectively. This contrasts with current standards of 4.0 grams/bhp-hr and 1.3 grams/bhp-hr, respectively. Thus, the catalytic converters must accomplish a significant reduction in NOx. There currently are no catalyst formulations which are able to adequately reach these restrictive standards; significant development will be required to reduce the cost and improve performance of new catalyst formulations. Apparatus that oxidizes engine fuel to provide a mix that enhances NOx reduction is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,412,946, in PCT published application WO 01/34950, and U.S. patent application Publication 2001/41153.
One known methodology for NOx reduction is the so-called SCR (Selective Catalytic Reduction) process, as shown in
In commonly owned copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/159,369 filed May 31, 2002, hydrogen for reducing NOx in catalytic converters or regenerating NOx trap adsorbents is generated utilizing moisture derived either directly or indirectly from engine exhaust. All of the aforementioned NOx reduction techniques are complicated and expensive.
Objects of the present invention include: improvement in the reduction of NOx to nitrogen and other harmless gases; achieving NOx reduction that meets EPA 2007 NOx emission requirements; simple, low-cost hydrogen generation for NOx reduction; and generation of hydrogen in and for an internal combustion engine exhaust emission reduction system, from only fuel already available with the engine in addition to water and/or air.
According to the present invention, fuel from the fuel tank of a hydrocarbon-fueled, internal combustion engine and air from the engine air inlet are processed either (a) in a homogeneous non-catalytic partial oxidizer, or (b) along with stored water and heat in the engine's exhaust in a hydrogen generator, which may be a catalytic partial oxidizer, a homogeneous non-catalytic partial oxidizer, or an auto thermal reformer, to generate a stream of reformate, including hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which is used, either directly or following the reaction of NOx with other compounds, to eliminate NOx in the exhaust. For example, the hydrogen-rich stream may either (a) be mixed with the main exhaust stream for processing in a NOx-reducing catalytic converter, or (b) used to regenerate adsorbent in NOx traps following the formation of nitrogen-containing compounds by reaction of NOx in the exhaust with adsorbent in the NOx traps. When unhumidified air (no water) is combined with fuel, a homogeneous, non-catalytic partial oxidizer is used.
Other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent in the light of the following detailed description of exemplary embodiments thereof, as illustrated in the accompanying drawing.
In
Air from the air inlet 15 is heated in a heat exchanger 34 and then fed to a suitable humidifier, such as an air bubbler 35, which receives ordinary water from a tank 36. The humidified air may be heated further in a heat exchanger 39 before passing through the line 26 and mixer 24 to the hydrogen generator 27.
In
Referring to
2NOx+BaCO3→Ba(NO3)2+CO2
Then, during the regeneration cycle, the barium nitrate is converted back to barium carbonate, as follows.
3H2+2CO+Ba(NO3)2→BaCO3+N2+3H2O+CO2
A CPOx oxidizer is preferred as the hydrogen generator 27 because it is very small and can run with low steam carbon ratios and high turndown ratios without soot or carbon formation. However, diesel engine exhaust contains particulates (soot) and oxides of sulfur (SOx), which may deactivate the CPOx catalyst in a relatively short period of time. Therefore, a non-catalytic (homogeneous) partial oxidizer may alternatively be selected as the hydrogen generator 27. The percentage of hydrogen produced is only slightly less than that produced by a CPOx. It is easily started by employing a simple spark plug, as is known. Additionally, POX is cheaper than CPOx; control of the O2/C ratio is known (similar to engine O2/fuel ratio), and simpler; SOx and soot do not affect it; and there is no steam/C ratio control problem.
Because the POx has a spark plug to initiate the reaction, it may be utilized with a mixture of ambient air without further humidification, defined herein as “unhumidified air” and fuel, to generate hydrogen and carbon monoxide, according to a second aspect of the invention. Referring to
In this later aspect of the invention, the homogeneous non-catalytic partial oxidizer 47 may be used to provide hydrogen for regeneration of the NOx trap adsorbent, as is illustrated in
The embodiments herein heat the fuel before it is utilized for hydrogen generation. However, it is not necessary for the fuel to be heated whenever a homogenous, non-catalytic partial oxidizer is employed, since the spark plug thereof will start the process at any temperature.
The embodiments herein heat the air before it enters the bubbler. However, the air exiting the turbo compressor is hot, typically around 212° F. (100° C.)–390° F. (200° C.), so the heat exchanger 34 may be omitted if desired. Since the spark plug in the POx 47 can start a reaction at any temperature, the heat exchangers 23 and 39 of
In the embodiments of
Thus, although the invention has been shown and described with respect to exemplary embodiments thereof, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the foregoing and various other changes, omissions and additions may be made therein and thereto, without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.
This is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/243,105, filed on Sep. 13, 2002 now abandoned, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/166,860 filed on Jun. 11, 2002 now abandoned.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20040163377 A1 | Aug 2004 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 10243105 | Sep 2002 | US |
Child | 10789512 | US |
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 10166860 | Jun 2002 | US |
Child | 10243105 | US |