Investigation of Exhaust Emission Characteristics of Gasoline Fuelled Motorcycles Using Post-Combustor.

Exhaust emissions from internal combustion engines are due to incomplete combustion of fuel in the combustion chamber. This incomplete combustion results in a significant increase in the amount of Carbon Mono-oxide and hydrocarbons in the exhaust stream. Several techniques such as catalytic converters, Exhaust gas recirculation, Selective catalytic reduction and etc are used to reduce the emissions. This study proposes a new approach to minimize the amount of pollutant emitted by internal combustion engines using a device known as post-combustor which consist of heating elements known as glow plugs that degrade carbon mono-oxide and hydrocarbons using a high temperature. This post-combustor can be retrofitted in any existing vehicle's exhaust line without any alterations. Moreover, it is designed such that there is no increase in fuel consumption; it only utilizes electrical energy from the vehicle's electrical system. Exhaust emission characteristics were measured using portable emission tester and exhaust gas temperature using a thermometer, it was found that there was an average reduction of 16.35% in the amount of carbon monoxide and 3.8% average reduction in the amount of hydrocarbons whereas there was an average increase of 9.29% in the amount of oxides of nitrogen and there was a slight increase in exhaust gas temperature. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]