New emissions issues

[Mr. Flibble]

As the owner of a VW impacted by Dieselgate, thought this interesting from Ars:

According to the Wall Street Journal, Toyota’s Hiace van and the Land Cruiser Prado sport-utility vehicle, as well as Nissan’s X-Trail SUV and Mitsubishi’s Delica D:5 all emitted between four and 10 times the amount of nitrogen oxide (NOx) that is allowed in Japan's real-world driving tests.

http://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/03/jap ... hi-nissan/

[Growlerbearnz]

D'oh!

[Rural]

I just happen to have spent my morning studying for a biofuels course. The subject matter today was diesel engines and diesel fuels (including biodiesel). Having a Delica L400 filling my window is tremendous motivation for studying.

The problem for small diesel engines is that emissions regulations have become progressively more stringent as time goes on. Some automakers have ended production of diesel models as the regulations took affect.

For diesel engines, decreasing NOx emissions tends to increase particulate emissions and vice-versa. Both NOx and particulate emissions have generally been very close to the allowable limits for all diesel model of passenger vehicles since 2004. Biodiesel worsens the NOx problem. The only answer would seem to be a development in 3-way catalytic converters that are affective despite excess oxygen in the exhaust stream.

[thelazygreenfox]

Some automakers have ended production of diesel models as the regulations took affect.

Which ones?
thx
MD

[FalcoColumbarius]

...For diesel engines, decreasing NOx emissions tends to increase particulate emissions and vice-versa. Both NOx and particulate emissions have generally been very close to the allowable limits for all diesel model of passenger vehicles since 2004. Biodiesel worsens the NOx problem. The only answer would seem to be a development in 3-way catalytic converters that are affective despite excess oxygen in the exhaust stream.

I'm puzzled by these findings. The majority of automobiles in Europe have gone from petrol to diesel because it's the cleanest combustion fuel, better economy, &c.. When you look at what happened to Volkswagon and that palaver ~ the issue was about VW lying. The Jetta TDI, with it's 16/1 compression ratio (not to mention power to weight ratio), still only takes one tank to drive from Vancouver to Calgary. That is phenomenal in this environ-mental, economically minded world. When you keep your vehicle tuned and balanced everything runs better and cleaner. I think people get confused when they see the black smoke coming from a diesel truck's exhaust, they think that it's a major polluter. When it cools it falls to the ground, unlike gasoline, which is a solvent, is lighter than air and floats up into the atmosphere to the ozone layer. Some people confuse diesel with coal and the acid rain. Diesel is a pretty clean fuel. Of course it's not perfect but considering you can run a diesel engine on on more than one fuel ~ that's gotta count for something.

Regarding Nitrogen Oxide emissions and EGR systems ~ the idea of introducing inert gas that is the product of a 256°C explosion less than a quarter second prior back into the cylinder does not strike me as being something that is going to lower the combustion temperature, plus now you have more soot going into the air because the inert hot gas you just threw into the mix replaced some of the oxygen, which is telling me that if I'm dumping that much more soot out the exhaust pipe then I'm going to be looking at that unused fuel waving to me from the hydrogen particulate cloud in my wing mirror and getting less distance per stroke.

Back a few years ago I was arguing with another member that why would Mitsubishi add the EGR valve if it didn't do something to justify it's presence? His argument was that it wasn't Mitsubishi but some pencil nosed bureaucrat in the "National Diet Of Japan" (Japanese parliament). As I had a well functioning engine that still had an EGR valve in it I thought I'd open it up and investigate. I found what looked like some glazing putty jammed into the valve aperture so I cleaned everything out and put it back together. I lost a quarter of my economy, engine was running particularly hot and she was gutless with clouds of soot coming out her tailpipe. I'm sure there must have been something missing, I really can't see them selling something that ran that poorly. I blocked off the valve and got more power, ran cooler and improved my fuel economy by 25+%.

Here is something that I wonder about but do not understand: Ninety-nine percent of the air we breath is made up Nitrogen N2 78.084%; Oxygen O2 20.947%; Argon Ar 0.934%; Carbon Dioxide CO2 0.033% (Yahoo Answers). Forgive me for asking a stupid question and I sure there is a good reason behind this but if this is the case then what is the big deal with nitrogen oxide?

"NOx may react with water to make nitric acid, which may end up in the soil, where it makes nitrate, which is of use to growing plants."~ Wikipedia.

I'm told that it is better that I be thought a fool than to open my mouth and remove all doubt by asking such questions but I really want to know.

Falco.

[TRUTHautomotive]

To answer your question Falco: Oxides of nitrogen are pretty inert as far as it goes with concerns of health. Chemical farming and industrial agriculture are farm more responsible for nitrate pollution in ground water and soils than our van's will every be. On the downside though oxides of nitrogen react with sunlight to produce smog. NOx are not entirely responsible for smog (CFCs, particulates, smoke etc...) but are a large part of it.

[thelazygreenfox]

Falco
Part of the problem is that NOx and CO2 are becoming more plentiful while O2 is becoming scarcer. That is air pollution at it's worst. O2 is the part we really need to live and multiply. There are other problems as well, obviously politics and money stirring the pot...
MD

[FalcoColumbarius]

To answer your question Falco: ...

... obviously politics and money stirring the pot...
MD

Ta, TA & MD.

FC.