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Pilot-Scale Aftertreatment Using Nonthermal Plasma Reduction of Adsorbed NOx in Marine Diesel-Engine Exhaust Gas

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Abstract

Regulations governing marine diesel engine NOx emissions have recently become more stringent. As it is difficult to fulfill these requirements by combustion improvements alone, effective aftertreatment technologies are needed to achieve efficient NOx reductions. In this study, we develop an effective NOx-reduction aftertreatment system for a marine diesel engine that employs combined nonthermal plasma (NTP) and adsorption. Compared with selective catalytic reduction, the proposed technology offers the advantages of not requiring a urea solution or harmful heavy-metal catalysts and low operating temperatures of less than 150 °C. The NOx reduction comprises repeated adsorption and desorption flow processes using NTP combined with NOx adsorbents made of MnOx–CuO. High concentrations of NOx are treated by NTP after NOx adsorption and desorption, and this aftertreatment system demonstrates excellent energy efficiencies of 161 g(NO2)/kWh, which fulfills the most recent International Maritime Organization emission NOx standards in the Tier II–III regulations for 2016 and requires only 4.3 % of the engine output power.

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by the Regional R&D Resources Utilization Program in the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST). It is also partly supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) KAKENHI Grant Number 24246145 and 249848. The authors would like to thank M. Nishimoto, T. Shinohara, M. Kawai (formerly graduate students at Osaka Prefecture University), S. Tagawa (formerly an undergraduate student at Osaka Prefecture University), S. Shimomura (engineering manager, Daihatsu Diesel MFG. Co. Ltd.), and S. Hosokawa (president, Masuda Research Inc.) for their contributions to the experiments.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Products Engineering and Environmental Management, Nippon Institute of Technology, 4-1 Gakuendai, Miyashiro-machi, Minamisaitama, Saitama, 345-8501, Japan

    Takuya Kuwahara

  2. Department of Mechanical Engineering, Osaka Prefecture University, 1-1 Gakuen-cho, Naka-ku, Sakai, 599-8531, Japan

    Tomoyuki Kuroki & Masaaki Okubo

  3. Department of Electrical and Electronic Systems Engineering, Osaka Institute of Technology, 5-16-1 Omiya, Asahi-ku, Osaka, 535-8585, Japan

    Keiichiro Yoshida

  4. Moriyama Division, Daihatsu Diesel MFG. Co. Ltd., 45 Amura-cho, Moriyama, Shiga, 524-0035, Japan

    Kenichi Hanamoto & Kazutoshi Sato

Authors
  1. Takuya Kuwahara
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  2. Keiichiro Yoshida
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  3. Tomoyuki Kuroki
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  4. Kenichi Hanamoto
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  5. Kazutoshi Sato
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  6. Masaaki Okubo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Masaaki Okubo.

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Kuwahara, T., Yoshida, K., Kuroki, T. et al. Pilot-Scale Aftertreatment Using Nonthermal Plasma Reduction of Adsorbed NOx in Marine Diesel-Engine Exhaust Gas. Plasma Chem Plasma Process 34, 65–81 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11090-013-9486-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11090-013-9486-0

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