A Simple New Exhaust Technology Could Save The Diesel Engine

Researchers have developed a technology that could virtually eliminate the problem of harmful nitrogen oxides from combustion engines, suggesting the possibility of a combustion-powered car that barely emits more harmful particulates than an EV.

British boffins at Loughborough University have reportedly reached such a successful stage in their project that its new technology is nullifying 98 per cent of toxic diesel NOx emissions even before being tuned for best results. That’s like throwing an engine together in your garage and discovering that it’s immediately producing 600bhp.

ACCT, or Ammonia Creation and Conversion Technology, uses Ammonia to separate nitrogen and oxygen. The molecules of the latter are attached to hydrogen instead, leaving no waste products other than nitrogen, which makes up around 78 per cent of Earth’s atmosphere, and common water.

At present, NOx particles, which are produced predominantly by diesel engines, especially when hot, are linked to the premature deaths of around 71,000 people across the continent every year. Four years ago the AdBlue system was introduced; a urea-based solution that helped exhausts burn off much more of the particulate matter. ACCT knocks AdBlue into row Z.

In early tests, the simple and cheap ACCT prototype was fitted to a diesel Skoda taxi, which focused on stop-start urban driving. While the standard, Euro 6-compatible AdBlue system captured 60 per cent of the particulates, the un-tuned ACCT hit 98 per cent right off the bat.

AdBlue’s effectiveness is limited by climate and operating conditions, but ACCT is said to work at almost peak efficiency at all times. You can imagine how valuable this sort of thing could be in a European car market that has seen diesel sales plunge 20 per cent.

Car makers, component manufacturers and even large fleet operators are apparently besieging Loughborough University to try to get their hands on the tech as soon as physically possible, according to Autocar.

The engineering team thinks it should be easy enough to integrate the technology into cars as they are today, and it could be in production within two years “with the right support,” by which they presumably mean money, and access to car and parts makers’ production processes. This could theoretically draw a lot more life out of combustion, easing the rush to electrify everything…

Source: Autocar