NOX abatement from filtered diesel engine exhaust using battery-powered high-voltage pulse power supply

The dielectric barrier discharge-based non-thermal plasma technique is one of the most prominent techniques which give peerless results in controlling the concentration of NOX. However, when it comes to the automobile diesel engine, availability of high-voltage pulse power supply is the major constraint. In this study, battery-powered high-voltage pulse power supply for NOX treatment has been proposed. Two types of electrodes: rod type and rod with helical spring type are studied for the treatment of exhaust. Cascaded plasma-adsorbent technique has also been used to enhance NOX removal efficiency. Experiments have been conducted with two different gas flow rates, i.e. 4 l and 6 l/min at laboratory level and have got significant results toward removal of NOX. When the exhaust has been treated with plasma alone, the reactor with rod-type electrode has shown 85% NOX removal efficiency at a specific energy (SE) of 283 J/l with a flow rate of 4 l/min. When the plasma reactor is cascaded with the adsorbent reactor, both adsorbents: 13x molecular sieve (MS13x) and activated alumina are able to remove 100% of NOX with the proposed power supply at a lesser SE.