Electrochemical decomposition of NOx and oxidation of HC and CO emissions by developing electrochemical cells for diesel engine emission control

Diesel engines are the most extensively used power source in automobiles and stationary power generation. The main drawback of using diesel engines is that it liberates a significant amount of NOx and PM emissions in the exhaust. NOx emission has a serious effect on the environment, and it has to be controlled effectively. SCR is the most widely used after-treatment technology to control NOx emission, but it has various disadvantages like ammonia slip and degradation of the catalyst. In this study, electrochemical decomposition of NOx is proposed for the simultaneous control of NOx, HC, and CO emissions in a diesel engine. In this work, ionically conducting ceramic electrochemical cells are investigated for control of diesel exhaust emissions. The electrochemical cell consisting of yttrium stabilized zirconia (YSZ) substrate plates as electrolyte and Ag-YSZ and NiO-YZS as an electrode material. The decomposition of NOx in an electrochemical cell is attained by passing electric current. A 2V supply of power was sufficient for effective operation of the electrochemical cell in all load conditions. All the experiments were conducted in a single-cylinder diesel engine. It is observed that the electrochemical cell shows high NOx decomposition rate of 80% at the exhaust temperatures between 350 and 400 °C. The HC reduction up to 65% and CO reduction up to 45% was observed with this technique. The power required to operate the electrochemical cell was low. The electrochemical NOx reduction is relatively simple technology with reduced complexity. From the experiment, it is observed that this concept works efficiently in the oxygen-rich diesel exhaust.