ANALYSIS OF DIESEL ENGINE EXHAUST BY ULTRAVIOLET ABSORPTION SPECTROSCOPY

Ultraviolet absorption spectroscopy was used for the analysis of exhaust from internal combustion engines. This technique employs a single pass absorption cell with a high speed photodiode array detector. Differential absorption was used to quantify analytes and to correct for changes in cell transmission. Sulfur dioxide, ammonia, and nitric oxide were detected with little interference from other species. The results obtained using this method compared very favorably with the results obtained using infrared absorption and chemiluminescence techniques.