Quote:
Originally Posted by orion411
I'll leave you guys with this bit of knowledge from MIT and their Plasmatron, which they developed after visiting Paul Pantone.
Cleaner, Higher Efficiency Vehicles Using Plasmatrons
The GEET plasma vortex fuel reformer works a whole lot better than the Plasmatron.
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http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2003/plasmatron.html
Under development for the last six years, the plasmatron is an onboard "oil reformer" that converts a variety of fuels into high-quality, hydrogen-rich gas. Adding a relatively modest amount of such gas to the gasoline powering a car or to a diesel vehicle's exhaust is known to have benefits for cutting the emissions of pollutants. "Prior to the plasmatron reformer development, there was no attractive way to produce that hydrogen on board," said Cohn
I don't see how better pollution controls would save fuel over vehicles that aren't pollution controlled. AKA my 82 diesel Suburuban has no DPF and thus no need to use a plasmatron to fix its exhaust.
I have never seen a "plasmatron" for use upstream, only downstream, the reason it never came into play was because Diesel motor makers intelligently decided to omit 02 control on 07 and newer diesels and just treat the NOX with DEF as opposed to plasmatron it.
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"If widespread use of plasmatron hydrogen-enhanced gasoline engines could eventually increase the average efficiency of cars and other light-duty vehicles by 20 percent, the amount of gasoline that could be saved would be around 25 billion gallons a year," Cohn said. "That corresponds to around 70 percent of the oil that is currently imported by the United States from the Middle East."
Honda Insight and older Hondas got the 20% better FE without a plasmatron by running lean, the plasmatron is just another method of bypassing the NOX problem so we are allowed to run lean. Again there are other methods of lean burn available now such as GDI. Should anyone wish to use them. Even water injection can treat NOX very effectively.
Cheers
Ryan