A large percentage of the population in developed countries use automobiles. This directly contributes to the emission of volatile organic vapors into the atmosphere, which in turn affects both humans and the environment. With the creation of a system that is able to reduce fuel vapor emissions, a cleaner and safer environment is generated. Therefore, this project focuses on the development and assessment of a UV LED photocatalytic device designed to operate in motor vehicles and serve this purpose. The device was tested against selected hydrocarbons at Miami, and then it was tested in its intended application at Stant, Inc. The results demonstrated that the device was efficient at degrading ethanol, hexane, and cyclohexane vapors. However, the device was not able to degrade benzene to the extent that it degraded hexane and cyclohexane, suggesting that the aromatics may foul the photocatalyst. In testing with Stant Manufacturing, the results showed that the UV LED photocatalytic device decreased evaporative fuel vapor emissions by approximately 60% when compared to those without the UV LED device. After further development of the system, we hope that it can be placed within automobiles to reduce evaporative fuel vapor emissions from automobiles.
Authors: Julia Kocher, Alex Danciutiu, Jack Bain, Kylie Saxton, Lauryn Simonson, John Nguyen
Catherine Almquist, Miami University College of Engineering and Computing
Advisor: Catherine Almquist, Chemical, Paper, and Biomedical Engineering
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