Using date stone charcoal as a filtering medium for automobile exhaust gases

Abstract

A thermal reactor was designed and built to produce coal from date stones by pyrolysis. Five specimens of coal have been prepared at different maximum charring temperatures. It was found that, as the temperature increases, the properties of coal are improved (the percentage of carbon content increases). It was also found that, at 700°C, the percentage of carbon content remains constant. The coal prepared at this temperature was used as a filtering medium in an adsorption filter to purify the exhaust gases of a two stroke spark ignition engine. The results showed that the filter has a high adsorption ability for CO and CO 2 gases. An ORSAT apparatus was used to measure the concentration of CO and CO 2 in the exhaust gases before and after the filter. The filter reduced the concentration of CO and CO 2 by 62 and 59%, respectively.