A concept has been developed for use of onboard plasmatron generation of hydrogen-rich gas to provide a major decrease in air pollution from internal combustion engine vehicles. Compact plasmatron devices would provide highly controllable electrical heating of ionized gasoline-air mixtures facilitating production of hydrogen-rich gas by partial oxidation. Hydrogen-rich gas/gasoline mixtures would then be combusted in present spark ignition internal combustion engines operated with very lean amounts of fuel. The electricity required by the plasmatron would be produced by a generator driven by the engine. The increased engine efficiency provided by the use of the hydrogen-rich gas would compensate for the power loss resulting from the plasma-boosted partial oxidation process. In conjunction with improved three-way catalytic convertor operation, overall emissions levels could be extremely low relative to present vehicles with present three-way catalytic convertors. NOx levels could be reduced by factors of more than 20. This type of gasoline-fueled extremely low emission vehicle could provide a near-term alternative to the battery-powered electric car. Onboard plasmatron generation of hydrogen-rich gas could also be used in natural gas-powered vehicles resulting in even lower overall pollutant emission levels. Key feasibility issues that must be investigated include plasmatron energy requirements, purity of plasmatron-generated hydrogen-rich gas, and the lifetime of plasmatron electrodes. (C) 1997 International Association for Hydrogen Energy.
