The effect of oxygen enriched air obtained by gas separation membranes from the emission gas of diesel engines

Gas separation membranes with polydimethylsiloxane(PDMS)/polystyrene(PS) were prepared by using the sequential interpenetrating polymer network (IPN) method with various PS contents (10–70wt%). These gas separation membranes can be applied to reduce the smoke density in the emission gas of diesel engines. PS content has a pronounced effect on the membrane performance. It was found that the optimized PS contents in the final membrane were 50wt%. The emission capacities of diesel engines used in this study were 632 cc and 11,149 cc. When the oxygen separation membrane was used in the diesel engines, the smoke density of both diesel engines was remarkably reduced (35–73%). The oxygen concentration in the inlet air affects the composition of the emission gases. Especially, hydrocarbon (HC) decreased with the increase of oxygen concentration.