A system in which an on-board compact plasmatron processes gasoline or other hydrocarbon fuels (ethanol, methanol, natural gas, JP4 and possibly oil) to produce hydrogen-rich gas for vehicular internal combustion engines is considered. Use of the hydrogen-rich gas as either the entire fuel or as an additive in the internal combustion engine could substantially reduce NOx, CO and hydrocarbon emissions.The electricity to provide the fuel processing in the plasmatron isprovided by a generator driven by the internal combustion engine. An important feature of the system is the avoidance of an unacceptably large decrease in overall fuel efficiency resulting from the electricity requirement of the plastmatron. Using controlled fuel injection, it may be possible to readily switch during driving between 100%gasoline operation, hydrogen additive operation and 100% hydrogen-rich gas operation. (A)
Abstract