Originally Posted by
Hendrik
In effect yes. I used to hate the EGR as well, but work on my DME thesis has led to a lot of reading into diesel emissions and the EGR system as well.
This is taken from a literature review on EGRs:
The EGR reduces NOx, by decreasing the peak temperature in the diesel combustion flame. It creates a dilution effect that describes the flame temperature and NOx emission reductions resulting solely from a reduction in oxygen mass fraction resulting from the displacement of some of the oxygen in the fresh intake air charge by an inert gas. The dilution effect is the most significant contributor to the NOx reduction achievable with EGR [Hawley 1998][Mellow 1999]. The impact of the dilution effect is primarily through a reduction in the local flame temperature from a broadening of the flame due to the reduction in the oxygen molar fraction. An increased proportion of non-oxygen molecules in the broadened flame zone absorb heat from the flame and lowers the temperature.