CORONA TREATMENT FOR NOX REDUCTION FROM STATIONARY DIESEL ENGINE EXHAUST IMPACT OF NATURE OF ENERGIZATION AND EXHAUST COMPOSITION A.D.Srinivasan Dept. of Electrical & Electronics Engineering S.J.College of Engineering Mysore - 570 006, INDIA and B.S.Rajanikanth and Sankarsan Mahapatro High Voltage Lab Dept. of Electrical Engineering Indian Institute of Science Bangalore – 560 012, INDIA ABSTRACT A detailed study on the removal of oxides of nitrogen (NOx) from the exhaust of a stationary diesel engine was carried out using non-thermal plasma (dielectric barrier discharge) process. The objective of the study was to explore the effect of different voltage energizations and exhaust composition on the NOx removal process. Three types of voltage energizations, namely AC, DC and Pulse were examined. Due to the ease of generation of high voltage AC/DC electrical discharges from automobile/Vehicular battery supply for possible retrofitting in exhaust cleaning circuit, it was found relevant to investigate individual energisation cases in detail for NOx removal. AC and Pulse energisations exhibit a superior NOx removal efficiency compared to DC energisation. However, Pulse energisation is found to be more energy efficient. Experiments were further carried out with filtered/unfiltered (raw) exhaust under pulse energisations. The results were discussed with regard to NOx removal, energy consumption and formation of by-products. Key words: Non–thermal plasma, Pulse, AC and DC electrical discharge plasma, Filtered/Unfiltered Diesel engine exhaust, NOx removal, by-products. 1 INTRODUCTION REMOVAL of NOx from diesel exhaust has been a challenge to researchers, as many conventional techniques such as catalysis, exhaust gas recirculation and other engine design modifications have failed to bring down the level of NOx to mandatory limits put across various countries. In this context, electrical discharge plasma technique appears to be very promising [1]. However, the success of electric discharge plasma for the pollution control will depend on how well it competes with existing technology