Advanced diesel emission control in agricultural tractors using Ni-CNTS nanocomposites and hybrid activated carbon–magnesium oxide adsorbents

TL;DR

This paper explores new nanomaterial-based systems to reduce harmful emissions from agricultural tractors, showing promising results for cleaner farming machinery.

Contribution

The study introduces and tests two novel nanomaterial-based prototypes for real-world diesel emission control in agricultural tractors.

Findings

The Ni-CNTs prototype achieved high adsorption efficiencies for CO, HC, TSP, NOx, and SO2.

The AC–MgO prototype also showed significant pollutant removal, though slightly less effective than Ni-CNTs.

Field experiments confirmed the practical viability of nanomaterial-integrated emission control systems.

Abstract

Agricultural tractors powered by thermally efficient and economically viable diesel engines play a pivotal role in the mechanization farming operations. However, these engines emit harmful pollutants such as carbon monoxide (CO), hydrocarbons (HC), nitrogen oxides (NOx), total suspended particles (TSP), and sulfur dioxide (SO2), all of which pose significant risks to human, animal, and plant health. In addition, these emissions also contribute to air pollution, global warming. This study builds upon our previous simulation-based research by implementing two novel exhaust gas treatment prototypes directly onto agricultural tractors under real-world field conditions. The first prototype was filled with activated carbon impregnated with magnesium oxides at a 7:0.5 ratio, whereas the second was coated with a nickel–carbon nanotube (Ni-CNTs) composite at a 0.2% concentration. Field experiments were conducted during plowing operations using a nine-shank chisel plow at a fixed depth, with gas measurements taken at intervals between 10 and 40 min. The Ni-CNTs-based prototype achieved superior adsorption efficiencies: 85.1% for CO, 55.21% for HC, 33.71% for TSP, 90.8% for NOx, and 76.1% for SO2. In comparison, the AC–MgO prototype achieved removal efficiencies of 84.68% for CO, 50.0% for HC, 25.0% for TSP, 87.24% for NOx, and 67.39% for SO2.These findings underscore the promising potential of nanomaterial-integrated systems—particularly Ni-CNTs—in enhancing diesel exhaust treatment performance and promoting environmentally sustainable agricultural machinery.

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