Reducing oxides of nitrogen using reformate generated from engine fuel, water and/or air
AssigneeHydrogenSource LLC
InventorKe Liu
Life of this patent
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Abstract
Inlet air (15) humidified in an air bubbling (or other) humidifier (35) that receives water from a tank (36) is sent to a hydrogen generator (27) along with vaporized (23) diesel fuel (22) to produce hydrogen and carbon monoxide (28) for either (a) mixing with the mainstream of exhaust (18) fed to a catalytic converter (30) or (b) regenerating a pair of NOx adsorption traps (38, 39), thereby reducing oxides of nitrogen (NOx), to provide system exhaust (32) which may have less than 0.40 grams/bhp/hr of NOx and 0.28 grams/bhp/hr of non-methane hydrocarbons. In other embodiments, unhumidified air mixed with fuel feeds a homogeneous non-catalytic partial oxidizer (27) to provide the required hydrogen and carbon monoxide.
Claims18
A system using reformate for reducing oxides of nitrogen (NOx) in the exhaust of a hydrocarbon-fueled, internal combustion engine which operates with fuel from a source and air from an air inlet and which provides engine exhaust in an exhaust pipe, comprising:
- reformate means having an inlet and an outlet for providing at said outlet a flow of said reformate including at least hydrogen, said means comprising either (a) a hydrogen generator and a tank of water, said hydrogen generator receiving, at an inlet of said hydrogen generator, fuel from said source and a mixture comprising air from said air inlet humidified with moisture from said tank, or (b) a homogeneous non-catalytic partial oxidizer receiving, at an inlet of said partial oxidizer, fuel from said source and unhumidified air from said air inlet;
- and
- NOx reducing means receiving said engine exhaust and said reformate for reducing the NOx in said engine exhaust to provide system exhaust with diminished NOx.
Apparatus for diminishing oxides of nitrogen (NOx) in the exhaust of a system including a hydrocarbon-fueled engine that provides engine exhaust containing NOx, said apparatus comprising:
- a tank of water;
- means for generating reformate from a mixture of air humidified with moisture derived from said tank of water and engine fuel, to provide a flow of reformate including hydrogen and carbon monoxide;
- and
- means for using the flow of reformate for reducing NOx in said engine exhaust to provide system exhaust with diminished NOx.
A method of diminishing oxides of nitrogen (NOx) in the exhaust of a system including a hydrocarbon-fueled engine that provides engine exhaust containing NOx, said method comprising:
- generating reformate from a mixture of air humidified by moisture derived from a tank of water and engine fuel, to provide a flow of reformate including hydrogen and carbon monoxide;
- and
- using the flow of reformate for reducing NOx in said engine exhaust to provide system exhaust with diminished NOx.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.