Effects of Reactive Species Produced by Electrolysis of Water Mist and Air through Non-Thermal Plasma on the Performance and Exhaust Gas of Gasoline Engines

Chia-Hsin Hsieh; Ming-Hsien Hsueh; Cheng-Wen Chang; Tao-Hsing Chen

doi:10.3390/molecules27207072

Effects of Reactive Species Produced by Electrolysis of Water Mist and Air through Non-Thermal Plasma on the Performance and Exhaust Gas of Gasoline Engines

Molecules. 2022 Oct 20;27(20):7072. doi: 10.3390/molecules27207072.

Authors

Chia-Hsin Hsieh¹, Ming-Hsien Hsueh², Cheng-Wen Chang², Tao-Hsing Chen¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical Engineering, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung 807618, Taiwan.
² Department of Industrial Engineering and Management, National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology, Kaohsiung 807618, Taiwan.

Abstract

Countries are paying increasing attention to environmental issues and are moving towards the goal of energy saving and carbon reduction. This research presents a method to analyse the effects of the use of non-thermal plasma (NTP) and water injection (WI) devices on the efficiency of internal combustion engines. The devices were installed on the intake manifold to investigate the effects of additional substances produced by electrolysis on the engine performance and exhaust emissions. According to the results, the addition of the NTP and WI devices affected the power efficiency and the rate of change of the brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC) of the internal combustion engines. In addition, the change rate of hydrocarbons (HC), carbon monoxide (CO), and nitrogen oxides (NOx) in the exhaust gases was affected. In conclusion, the study found that the additional substances generated by the NTP-electrolysed water mist or air influenced the fuel combustion efficiency and exhaust emissions.

Keywords: brake-specific fuel consumption (BSFC); engine performance; exhaust emissions; non-thermal plasma (NTP); water electrolysis; water injection (WI).

Grants and funding

This paper is financially supported by the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) under the contract of MOST 111-2221-E-992-040, and the National Kaohsiung University of Science and Technology under the contract of 111E09 and 111K01.