Cleaning diesel fuel, urea/methanol injection

[navinav]

Hello,
I had a question if there was a way to reduce smoke and pollution in a small twin diesel. I was wondering if the concept of urea injection would work and what part of the engine would it be injected in. I have heard of methanol injection but I know only of hp and torque increases as well as lowering temp. I'm not sure if it has any environmental benefits. Also, wondering if methanol injection will work with wvo. Could both of these technologies be used?

[pietenpol2002]

Take a look at the piece of research from India conducted on a 5 hp diesel in the link below. While they promote the use of a diesel/kerosene mix for efficiency, they build a fairly compelling argument for the use of a diesel/LPG mix to benefit emissions.

http://www.ieindia.org/publish/mc/0404/apr04mc1.pdf

On my current Yanclone build I'm incorporating a camper bottle of LP coupled to a regulator and 12V propane solenoid valve. The solenoid valve is actuated by a Harley horn button on the handlebars. As such, it is an on-demand arrangement to be used when I'm about to be overtaken by one of the local Amish buggies. The supercharger should provide further enhancement.

In his landmark article on the use of propane fumigation, Mr. Sharkey reported that a camper bottle of propane supplying his 1.5 NA VW lasted approximately 60 miles when fueling full time. If used only intermittently, a single bottle should last many hundreds of miles on a little single or twin. He calculated a 21% power increase while the research article above found a 19.8% improvement in specific fuel consumption and marked reduction in overall emissions with the exception of nitrogen oxides.

I'm still in the building stage. Who knows, It may all be for naught, but in the meantime I'm certainly having fun.

[coachgeo]

...On my current Yanclone build I'm incorporating a camper bottle of LP coupled to a regulator and 12V propane solenoid valve. The solenoid valve is actuated by a Harley horn button on the handlebars. ...

HEY>>>>> NO STEALING MY THUNDER... that was my idea first

I give you permission to do it first only if you share your folly and successes!

PS- one hint I got from a builder was medical needle. Make good injection tips and many sizes available and can easily be adapted into air intake before or after turbo. NOTE.... last I read... LP injection is not as good with indirect injection. Some ignition can/does occur in pre-chamber and that is not where you want it. Also more affective in turbo engines if I recall.

butttttt.... we are off his discussion of Urea. I belive the eurea is introduced to the Exhaust gasses???

[navinav]

If I run the lp all the time. Would it burn a hole in my pocket or is it economically viable?. How many miles do you see out of that tank and how much does it generally cost you?

[coachgeo]

LP changes the characteristic burn of the fuel. Basically I think your power gain is from two things (1) improvement in complete combustion of diesel (2) Combustion of the LP in addition. So..... now how much LP is enough to get the right balance of the two things or should you offset the balance to only improving the combustion of the amount of diesel injected.

What ever that magic balance is ... is it enough of a change in the combustion to then need to do a complete new IP/Injection timing etc etc. to maximize its potential. (or not burn pistons)

With out there being reasonably available ways to test combustion of a diesel engine at different IP settings, Injector settings etc... your getting into complete guess work or one hell a lot of study to do educated guesses based on science.

[pietenpol2002]

"How many miles do you see out of that tank and how much does it generally cost you?"


I'm still in the building process and thus have no real world experience to report. And of the 2 options Coachgeo noted, mine leans toward the "complete guess work". Please don't take anything I post as remotely resembling good engineering, science or sense. However, as BoxerOtto has noted in his posts regarding his turbo application, these engines comes set up a bit over-fueled to compensate for the poorer quality fuel found in some parts of the world. Thus, they can apparently tolerate a bit of boost and/or propane without molesting the fuel settings. My hope is to get a more complete and thorough burn of the diesel and thereby extract additional energy while improving emissions at the same time. We'll see!!!!! I can't take any of this too seriously or it ceases to be fun.