Reducing of nitrogen oxides emissions in a combustion engine by ceramic oxygen conductors and thermoelectric materials

There are several ways of reducing the content of nitrogen oxides in exhaust gases of combustion engines. The most frequently applied solution has been the use of a catalyst located in the engine's exhaust system (unfortunately efficiency of DeNOx catalyst is not high) or EGR system. Less popular and more technically challenging solutions are based on a system mounted in the exhaust part of the engine and consisting of an injector that distributes a highly reducing agent, usually urea, to the exhaust gaseous. The subject of this paper is to present a concept of reducing NOx emissions in a combustion engine based on elimination of nitrogen from a supply system. The use of the oxygen separator, composed of the ceramic ionic conductor, together with an electrical supply system based on thermoelectric materials that utilizes exhaust heat is the main assumption of the proposed solution.