Analysis and control of automobile exhaust by using metal nano particles

Abstract

Automobile pollution is the major source of pollution. Today, one of the herculean challenges faced by the humans is the increasing pollution at an alarming rate. It is causing an environmental imbalance and contributing to increase in the greenhouse effect. The majority of the environmental pollution is from the two-wheeler automobiles due to their large numbers. There are two methods of control of pollution namely, pre-pollution control and post pollution control. This research work is based on the post pollution control method in two-wheeler automobiles using nano-particle as a catalyst. A study on nano-particle reveals that the ratio of surface area of nano-particle to the volume of the nano-particle is inversely proportional to the radius of the nano-particle. On decreasing the radius, the surface area to the volume ratio is increased leading to an increased rate of reaction and the concentration of the pollutants is decreased. For achieving this objective, three different fabricated designs of the catalytic converter for two-wheeler automobiles using petrol as the working fuel are proposed using coated nano-particle as a catalyst. The fabricated designs are very effective in the prevention of environmental pollution contributed from two-wheeler automobiles. This research work involves the use of copper nano-particle that is cheaper than the platinum, palladium and rhodium nano-particles used in automobiles. At nano-scale, the surface properties start becoming more dominant than the bulk material properties generating unique material attributes and chemical reactions.