Investigation of Oxygen Enriched Air Intake on Diesel Engine Exhaust Emissions

One of the methods to reduce the emissions in a diesel engine is by oxygen introduction into the combustion chamber which can be done by supplying the oxygen into the inlet manifold during suction stroke. Oxygen affects different parameters such as brake thermal efficiency, fuel consumption, NOx and smoke at different load conditions. Load test was conducted for various concentrations of oxygen (21 to 27 percent) in terms of 2%. It is found that oxygen enrichment leads to better combustion which in turn results in less fuel consumption and an increase in brake thermal efficiency. It was found that about 25% oxygen enrichment in the inlet air results in the optimum performance and emission characteristics. The result shows that varying oxygen enrichment in the inlet air increases brake thermal efficiency and subsequently decreases brake specific fuel consumption. It was also found that an oxide of nitrogen (NOx) increases exponentially whereas smoke intensity falls bellow the normal level.