AIR 1 Science

The AIR 1 system utilizes multiple strategies of chemistry and physics to mitigate and neutralize pollutants.

Exhaust (Hardware):
The energy source utilized for driving the AIR 1 system is the waste heat from the catalytic converter of a conventional exhaust system. The “Quench Reactor” is located after, and as close as practical, to the catalytic converter to utilize the exhaust heat to produce the propylene glycol steam in the Quench Reactor from the solvent injector nozzle. The steam produced by propylene glycol has very high atomization and is similar to “smoke” but it is infact a steam vapor.It takes very little PG liquid spray to produce large quantities of steam.

Behind the Quench Reactor is the “Impingement Tube” which is a section of exhaust tubing where the PG steam mixes with the exhaust gases creating smog (Smoke + Fog), The “IT” is where the pollutants are scrubbed from the gas due to the affinity of the pollutant molecules to the PG solution droplets. The Impingement Tube may need a liquid collection hose to collect condensation if the vehicle requires a bend that creates a trap in the tube.

The steam and exhaust gas then enters the “Wet Bed Reactor”. As stated previously, it is crucial the system achieves total condensation of the PG solvent, so several cooling strategies are designed into the Wet Bed Reactor. First the WBR is an expansion chamber that allows pressure drop which is conducive to condensation of the steam. A solvent spray nozzle at the inlet is used to further liquid cool the exhaust by conduction as well as evaporative cooling to aid in condensation. The spray from the nozzle keeps a stainless-steel sponge matrix wet to help impinge the steam droplets on the wet surface film. The stainless-steel matrix allows the exhaust gas to pass through it with little restriction, however, the matrix passages create turbulence including vortices and venturis. This creates low pressure and temperature drop due to Bernoulli’s principle, further aiding in condensation of the PG steam. The Wet Bed Reactor has a solvent pick up tube attached to the sump area to return the liquid solvent to the Solvent Processing Module.

The “Solvent Processing Module” contains several components. There are two liquid pumps, one pump supplies the spray nozzles in the QR and WBR and another pump is for the condensate return hose from the Wet Bed Reactor to the Solvent Processing Module. The SPM also contains a radiator and a thermostatically controlled electric fan which kicks on at 140F and off at 125F. This is to assure that the solution does not recycle without thermal control. The SPM also contains a PG solvent filtration system that utilizes current water treatment technologies as disclosed in the following section.

Solvent:
The working solution is a solvent made up of approximately 75% propylene glycol and 25% distilled water. Propylene glycol has been used for contaminated soil remediation where PG steam is injected into the soil through injection wells. As the steam cools & condenses, the pollutants are drawn out of the soil and into the solvent. The liquid PG is then pumped to the surface through extraction wells for filtration and recycling. Efficiencies of up to 99% for removing PHAs have been reported in the literature.
This solution has a freezing point of -50F and a boiling point of 366F. This range of phase change temperatures plays an important role in the AIR 1 system. First, the low freezing temperature is necessary for vehicles used in extreme cold climates. The high boiling point temperature is necessary to be able to achieve maximum condensation of the solution before it leaves the tail pipe. It is a crucial function of the system to cool the exhaust gases below this phase change temperature and it is the goal to get the exhaust temperatures well below the boiling temperature to assure no steam leaves the system. Otherwise, the steam would carry contaminants and release them into the environment, negating the purpose of the system. PG is known to react with some exhaust pollutants to cause precipitate which is then caught by the filtration process. (See Filtration & Treatment) The solvent may also be modified to cause precipitation or reactions to enhance scrubbing of specific pollutant molecules from the gas or the solvent.

Filtration and Treatment:
The Filter cartridge has multiple stages that cause various reactions to help coagulate, ionize, redox and capture targeted pollutant molecules. The first stage is high purity zinc and copper granules. This media offers several functions. First, the dissimilar metals along with flowing solvent cause a galvanic electric current. This can cause a reaction in some molecules to become polarized as the sacrificial zinc flows into the solution offering two protons to modify negative ion molecules. This is called “electrocoagulation” and is a more environmentally sustainable method for this purpose in leu of using hazardous chemicals. Copper works as an electrocatalyst, a mechanism that uses energy from electrons to chemically transform molecules into different products.

Here are some of the various pollutants found in the exhaust from internal combustion engines and the filtration, and / or the media that can neutralize or change the ionic charge or ph of the molecules. By changing the ionic charge, the molecules can be trapped in the filter media by adsorption. (ionic and covalent bonds)

CO2 - Magnesium Oxide pellets (MgO), Propylene Glycol (PG Carbonate)
CO – Activated Carbon Adsorption
NOx – Copper / Zinc
Benzene – Activated Carbon Filtration carbon/polymeric resin adsorption
Formaldehyde – Activated Carbon Filtration, Zeolite, Ferrate (VI)
PAHs – Activated Carbon Filtration / Adsorption
Hydrogen Sulfide – Copper / Zinc
Lead – Copper / Zinc