Carbon Monoxide in Diesel Exhaust ?

[johnk]

Cigarette smoke puts out about 700 PPM @ the source of the cigarette. People can tolerate 30 ppm in a 12 hour period. 100 ppm will be dangerous in an 12 hour period. Some gas ovens put out about 500 PPM at the vent on the top of the stove but it is intermittent as the oven calls for temperature. Any flame burning yellow is putting out CO that is dangerous. If the vent is plugged on a chimney for a gas burning apliance it isn't dangerous until the oxygen is removed in the combustion. Then the CO is produced. Odorless and tasteless but deadly.

 

[RalphVa]

I don't know for sure, but I do know that a sure way to becoming billionaire would be to invent a process that turned CO or CO2 into diamonds and oxygen.

Ralph

 

[kuby]

It's not the CO that frightens me it's the particulate matter and sulpher dioxide and some nasty carcinagens known as polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons(PAH'S) that get my attention.

 

[EastTexFrank]

Nice try Ralph but I think we're going to have to come up with some other idea to get rich. /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif /forums/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I think that in theory, it can be done. The problem is that the value of the diamond produced doesn't cover the cost of the energy used to produce it .... bankruptcy after one stone.

 

[chim]

A few years ago, the company I work for did a project inside a PA Turnpike tunnel. The tunnel was closed to traffic for the duration of the work. We were not allowed to use any gasoline-powered equipment in the tunnel due to "health risks". Diesel-powered equipment was OK..............chim

 

[KiotiJohn]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( Hence, the diesel, if Lazy's second website is correct, actually produces the SAME level of CO as the gas, presuming the two engines are equally efficient. )</font>
I have a lot of issues with that second link. The statement that diesel engines produce virtually no CO is outrageous. A by product of any internal combustion engine is CO, and generally gas produces more. The big problem with breathing ANY CO is that the blood readily binds with CO before it will with Oxygen (O2). I just addressed this in another post where someone made the statement that the member who had built his own cab didn't have to worry about CO as diesels don't produce any. Scared of that! John

 

[slowzuki]

Ok heres some more fuel. Are we all talking non-cataylst equiped engines?

Diesels generally can only use a 2 way cataylst as they emit both unburnt fuel from rich burning, CO from incomplete burning, NOx from high temp lean burning and soot. Diesels as a part of how they work burn rich, stoichiometric and lean all at the same time due to the injected fuel.

Cars can always shoot for excess air(oxygen) in the exhaust to light off the 3 way cat.

So a diesel on a 2 way cat boots out some PM and NOx. A pile of money is being spent to solve these problems.

PM is fairly easy, not many new diesels spew smoke, the fueling is mapped to prevent this. New trucks now that do that have been chipped or tuned by their owners to produce more power but not worry about smoke.

NOx is hard, lots of carry along filtering media etc are being tested. They reduce efficiency but they let you up combustion temps to gain some back.

Gasoline engines have been developed to within a few percent of the maximum possible efficiency, diesels are just hitting their development strides and have a long way to go with many possibilities.

 

[Yankee]

"I just addressed this in another post where someone made the statement that the member who had built his own cab didn't have to worry about CO as diesels don't produce any."

You're right, that is scary. The other side of this, though, is that diesels pump considerably more air than gas engines, lessening the risk. The Nazis discovered this when they tried using diesel exhaust in early gas chamber experiments. They opened the doors to find their victims alive, if dirtier.