humidity and combustion

[UnMineur]

I'm involved in a R&D project studying the influence of air humidity on combustion in a diesel engine and its impacts on the efficiency and emmissions.
Does anybody know some work already done on this subject ?
Thanks !

 

[JStephen]

I'd say almost certainly, the major diesel engine manufacturers have looked into it a good bit. Whether any of it is publicly available information is a different issue.

 

[25362]

I've read on the net some articles concerning the fact that air humidity brings down the combustion peak temperatures resulting in lower NOx emissions. One example:

http://www.harc.edu/harc/Projects/AirQuality/Projects/Status/Files/H8BT_HdieselFinalReport.pdf

 

[IRstuff]

HAve you done a search for "water diesel" on this site? Most such questions would be answered in the Fuel or Automotive Engineering forums.

TTFN

 

[25362]

There is the "strange" fact worth mentioning that spraying cold water into air may actually dehumidify it, as long as the water temperature is below the entering air's dew point. In this particular case, heat and mass, both flow from air to water.