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Printer FriendlyReprinted with permission from Popular Mechanics, August
2001.
© Copyright The Hearst Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Charging Gas Cleans Diesel Exhaust
Light-duty diesel engines, used in passenger cars and small trucks, can meet fuel economy requirements and emit less carbon dioxide than gasoline engines. But reducing the nitrogen oxides that cause air pollution has remained a problem.
By combining an electrically charged gas or plasma with a specialized catalyst, researchers at the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland Wash., have successfully reduced harmful oxides of nitrogen in a diesel engine by half. "Our lab results over the past six months now show that greater than 90 percent reduction can be achieved," says Chuck Peden. A prototype engine is expected in 2004.
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