B Tech seminar report on

AQUA SILENCER
Submitted in the partial fulfilment for the award of the Degree of Bachelor of
Technology in Mechanical Engineering under the University of Kerala

Submitted by,

JOHN JEROME

(Reg. No.14429037)
B Tech
2014-18

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICALENGINEERING
UKF COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY
PARIPPALLY, KOLLAM-691302
APRIL 2018

DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

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 CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the seminar report entitled “AQUA

SILENCER”is a bonafide work presented by ‘JOHN JEROME
(14429037)’ towards the partial fulfilment of the requirements for the
award of degree of BACHELOR OF TECHNOLOGY in Mechanical
Engineering under university of Kerala during eighth semester of the
academic year 2017-2018

Seminar Coordinators: Head of the Department:

Mrs. SNEHA EDLA

Mr. HARIJITH R G Mr. ANEESH V N

Asst.Professors Mechanical Department

Mechanical Department

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am greatly indebted to God Almighty for His divine grace and blessings in
making all this possible. May He continue to lead me in the years to come.

First I thank our respected principal, Dr. E. Gopalakrishna Sharma, for having
provided the best facilities in connection with the presentation of this seminar.

I am extremely grateful to the management for providing all the necessary

facilities to carry out this work.

I express my sincere thanks to Mr. Aneesh V N, Head of the Department for the
support and guidance and thanks to all my teachers in the Department of
Mechanical Engineering, whose careful and meticulous reviews improved the
quality of this work.

I am grateful to our seminar co-ordinators, Mrs. Sneha Edla &Mr. Harijith R

G, assistant professors, department of mechanical engineering for their whole
hearted support and guidance in helping me to present the seminar report to the
best of my ability.

Last, but not the least, I would like to thank all my friends and my parents who
supported me with their love and encouragement for the completion of this
seminar report.

JOHN JEROME

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 ABSTRACT
Aqua Silencer is a modified version of a conventional silencer aimed
at the reduction of toxic emission from the exhaust of an IC engine
into the atmosphere and also to reduce the noise that is produced by
damping methods which involves water. It incorporates the usage of
cheap chemicals like lime water, activated charcoal and water with
the help of simple but effective change in the design and fabrication
of the silencer to reduce the noise and toxic emission levels. The main
pollutants caused by automobile include CO, NOx, lead etc. The
activated charcoal filters this harmful nitrous and sulphur content
produced from the engine. The sound produced under water is less
audible than produced in atmosphere. Due to this water is required in
this silencer and hence its name AQUA SILENCER.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER TITLE PG NO

1 INTRODUCTION 6
2 LITERATURE SURVEY 7
3 WHAT IS A SILENCER? 9
4 WHY AQUA SILENCER? 10
5 COMPONENTS 11
6 CONSTRUCTION 14
7 WORKING PRINCIPLE 16
8 EFFECTS OF DISSOLVED GASES IN
WATER 18
9 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 19
10 ADVANTAGES, DISADVANTAGES AND
APPLICATIONS 21
11 FUTURE ENHANCEMENT 22
12 CONCLUSION 23
13 REFERENCE 24

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 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

Automobiles are a major source of noise pollution after industries. Air

pollution is most important from the public health of view. Polluted air
causes physical undesirable aesthetic and physiological effects. Air
pollution can be defined as addition of any material to our atmosphere,
which will have a dexterous effect on life upon our planet. The main
pollutants contributed by engine exhaust are carbon monoxide (CO),
unburned hydrocarbon (UBHC), oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and Lead.
Automobiles are not the only cause of air pollution, other sources such
as electric power generating stations, industrial and domestic fuel
consumption, industrial processing etc also contribute heavily to
contamination of our environment, so it is mandatory that serious
efforts should be made to conserve of our environment from
degradation. Engines are used for various purposes in power plants,
automobiles, locomotives and in various manufacturing. Noise created
by these engines becomes a vital concern in residential areas or areas
where noise creates various hazard. Generally noise level of more than
80 dB is hazardous for human being. The main sources of noise in an
engine are the exhaust and that produced due to friction of various parts
of the engine.

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 CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE SURVEY

A lot of effort is being made to reduce the air pollution from petrol
and diesel engines and regulations for emission limits are also imposed.
Furthermore, developments in petrol and diesel engines, combined
with improvements in the vehicles, will make fuel consumption
reduction of 40% or more in the future cars [6]. One such development
is improvement of the silencer unit of an engine. This is where an Aqua
Silencer comes into play.
An Aqua Silencer mainly deals with control of emission and
noise in engine exhaust [9].It basically consists of a perforated tube
which is installed at the exit of the exhaust from the engine, which may
have holes of variable diameters. This is done to divide the gas
molecules of large proportions to form gas molecules of smaller
diameter. Theoretically, four or more sets of holes are made on the
perforated tube using drilling. The other end of the perforated tube is
sealed using a plug.
A small coating of activated charcoal is provided all around the
perforated tube using an inner box which holds the charcoal in place
and separates the charcoal and lime water from the water in the Aqua
Silencer. This unit is then placed in a container in which water is filled
to a certain level. A small opening is provided on the lid of the inner
box which carries the exhaust from it to the outside using a small
diameter pipe. A U-bend of pipe is constructed at the end of perforated
tube which doubles as a non-return valve which prevents the back flow
of engine exhaust or lime water back into the engine. After passing over
the charcoal layer, a portion of the gases dissolve into the water and
finally the exhaust gases escape through the opening in to the
atmosphere.
“Emission” is a term that is used to describe the totality of
undesired gases and particulates which are released into the air or

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emitted by numerous sources. Its amount and type change with changes
in the industrial activity, technology, and a number of other factors,
such as air pollution regulations and emissions controls.
In addition to heat and water vapour, the pollutants formed in
engine exhaust are,
Carbon monoxide (CO)
 Carbon dioxide (CO2)
 Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx)
 Sulphur dioxide(SO2)
 Particulate and Unburned Hydrocarbons (UBHC)
 Respirable combustible Dust (RCD)
 The above polluting contents in the engine exhaust are to be
controlled by the Aqua Silencer

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 CHAPTER 3
WHAT IS A SILENCER?

A suppressor, sound compressor, or silencer, is a device attached

to or part of the heat generating units which reduces the amount of noise
and pollution generated by that units. A silencer is typically constructed
of a metal cylinder with internal mechanisms to reduce the sound and
pollutants produced by the engines, gun barrels, industrial machines
etc. The silencer is typically a hollow metal tube manufactured from
steel, aluminium, or titanium and contains expansion chambers. This
device, typically cylindrical in shape is attached to the exhaust pipe of
the engine. Because all types of machines and engines produce both
noise and pollutant. This pollutants and noise cause negative effects on
the environment. So silencers are very essential in all engines.
Generally a silencer must have an expander and filter units. The
exhaust from the engine must have very high temperature and very high
pressure. Also IC engines produce toxic gases. Main pollutants
produced by the automobiles are carbon monoxide, unburned
hydrocarbon and oxides of nitrogen. If the gas enters into the expander
of the silencer, both pressure and temperature of the gas is reduced.
Also filter removes all pollutants present in the gas. This low pressure
low temperature non pollutant gas is passed to the atmosphere through
the exhaust pipe of the silencer. So pollution is reduced by the use of
silencers.

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 CHAPTER 4
WHY AQUA SILENCER?

There has been an increasing concern in recent years over the

increasing of transportation and discharge of industrial waste waters
into environment. The engine emission contains air pollutants and other
species. Almost all pollutants are toxic in nature. Some of the examples
are CO, CO2, NOX, and Hydrocarbon. Hence, removal of these
pollutants was selected as the primary concern. There are several
expensive techniques available in developed countries. Though in
developing countries (for instance, India), adsorption technique which
is less expensive and economically feasible is used. It has been selected
for the present study using some cheap cost chemicals as an effective
adsorbent. Therefore the objective of the present work is to test the
ability of an Aqua Silencer in removing air pollutants and reduce noise
of emission from engine.
An aqua silencer system is designed in such a way as to substitute
for conventional single unit engine silencers installed on industrial
engines and heavy vehicles. Its construction is simple and it has a
slender design; in addition to having a minimal 'footprint', it also
optimizes the engine exhaust system for reducing backpressure and
decreasing noise levels. It is used to control the noise and emission in
IC engines. The reason why we opt for aqua silencer is that, in our
world, air pollution causes physically and mentally harmful effects to
human beings and also to the environment. The main contribution of
air pollution comes from automobiles and industrial engines releasing
gases like carbon dioxide and unburned Hydrocarbons. By using water
as a medium, the sound produced can be lowered. With further
development, it can also be used in automobiles

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 CHAPTER 5
COMPONENTS
1. Perforated Tube

The tube consists of number of holes of different diameters. It

is used to transform high mass bubbles to low mass bubbles.
2. Charcoal Layer

Activated charcoal pallets.

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 The charcoal layer is fixed over the perforated tube , these charcoal
layer has more absorbing capability because it has more surface area.
It is called as ACTIVATED CHARCOAL and it is produced by heating
the charcoal above 1500oc for several hours in a burner due to which
its surface area gets increased.
3. Outer Layer

The whole setup was kept inside the outer cover. It is made up of iron
or steel. The water inlet, outlet and exhaust tube was made available in
the shell itself.
4. Flange

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A flange joint is a connection of pipes, where the connecting pipes have
flanges by which the parts are bolted together. Here flange is used to
link the silencer to the engine
5. Non Return Valve

A non return valve which is a mechanical device , which normally

allows fluid (liquid or gas) to pass through it in only one direction. It
operates on a spring action. The Aqua silencer is filled with water and
it is immediately connected to the exhaust pipe of the engine so there
is a chance for the water to get enter into the engine cylinder. To avoid
this, a non-return valve is used.

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 CHAPTER 6
CONSTRUCTION

An aqua silencer consists of a perforated tube, activated charcoal

layer and water which is installed in the exhaust pipe. The
perforated tube consist holes of different diameters. The purpose
of providing different diameter holes is to break up gas mass to
smaller gas bubbles. Generally 4 sets of holes are drilled on the
perforated tube. The other end of the tube is closed by plug.
Around the circumference of the perforated tube a layer of
activated charcoal is provided covered with metallic mesh over it.
The entire unit is then placed in a water container. A small
opening is provided at the top of the container to discard the
exhaust gases and a drain plug is provided at the bottom of the
container for repeatedly cleaning of the container. Also a filler
plug is mounted at the top of the container. At the inlet of the
exhaust pipe a non-return valve is arranged which prevents the
back flow of gases and water as well.

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15
 CHAPTER 7
WORKING PRINCIPLE
The principle involved is by bubbling the exhaust gas through the
scrubber tank containing an alkaline solution , here the temperature of
the gases is reduced, while most of the oxides of nitrogen in the exhaust
are rendered non – toxic.The bell-mouth solution reduces the back
pressure. For measuring the contents of the exhaust gas, provisions are
made to take samples between engine outlet and scrubber inlet and after
the scrubber outlet before the gases are let out to the atmosphere. These
sampling points enable us to measure the exhaust gas content before
and after scrubbing. The difference is evaluated and effective control is
initiated.
The exhaust gases enter in to the aqua silencer and are received the
perforated tube which converts high mass bubbles into low mass
bubbles after which they passes through the charcoal layer which
exonerate the gases. This layer is highly porous and posses extra free
valences so it has high absorption capacity. After passing through the
charcoal layer some of the gases may dissolved into the water and
finally the Exhaust gases liberate through the opening in to the
atmosphere. Hence aqua silencer reduces noise and pollution

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17
 CHAPTER 8
EFFECTS OF DISSOLVED GASES ON WATER

The water is a good absorbing medium. In aqua silencer the gases are
made to be dissolved in water. When these gases dissolved in water
they form acids, carbonates, bicarbonates etc.
1) Action of dissolved SO2
When SOx is mixed in water, it form SO2, SO3, SO4, H2SO4,
sulphur Acid (H2SO3), it forms Hydrogen Sulphide which causes
foul rotten egg smell, acidify and corrosion of metals.
2) Action of dissolved CO2
The dissolved carbon dioxide forms bicarbonate at lower PH and
Carbonates at higher PH. This levels 40-400 mg/litre. This forms
scale in pipes and boilers. The carbon dioxide mixes with water to
form Carbonic acid.
3) Effect of dissolved NOx
The Nitrogen in water under goes Oxidation to form ammonia,
Nitrate, Nitrite, Nitric acid. This synthesis of protein and amino acids
is affected by Nitrogen. Nitrate usually occurs in trace quantities in
surface water.

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 CHAPTER 9
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

1) Test Using Simple Silencer

Hatridge smoke tester is directly connected to the outlet of the
generator. The amount of HSU and light absorption coefficient
is determined. The observed mean HSU value for using simple
silencer is 58.5% and the mean light absorption coefficient is
2.04m-1.
2) Test Using Aqua Silencer With Activated Charcoal
Activated charcoal is used in the silencer because of its high
absorption capability. Activated charcoal is placed inside the
Perforated Tube. It can absorb some of the toxic gases present in
the exhaust. The observed mean HSU value for using simple
silencer is 29.1% and the mean light absorption coefficient is
0.79m-1. The amount of HSU is decreased in this case with
respect to test with simple silencer
3) Test Using Aqua Silencer with Activated Charcoal and Lime
Water
Perforated tube contains lime water inside it which chemically
reacts with exhaust gas from the engine. It absorbs a large
amount of the toxic gases present in the exhaust. The observed
mean HSU value for using simple silencer is 16.8% and the
mean light absorption coefficient is 0.42.m-1. Percentage of
HSU and k value is comparatively very low
4) Noise Test
Noise test is conducted by using sound level meter. The
electrical signal from the transducer is fed to the pre-amplifier of
the sound level meter and if needed, a weighted filter over a
specified range of frequencies. Further amplification prepares
the signal either for output for rectification or to other
instruments such as a tape recorder and direct reading on the
meter.

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20
 CHAPTER 10
ADVANTAGES, DISADVANTAGES &
APPLICATIONS

1) Advantages

 No vibration when the engine is running.

 Start the engine easily.
 Control emission and noise in greater level.
 Carbon is precipitated.
 Less pollution
 Less fuel consumption when compare to ordinary
vehicles

2) Disadvantages

 Additional space is required to install this arrangement

in vehicle
 Lime water filling is required once in a year
 Silencer weight is more compared to conventional
silencer

3) Applications

 Automobile applications
 Industrial applications

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 CHAPTER 11

FUTURE ENHANCEMENT

There has understandably been an increasing concern in recent years

over the increasing rate of transportation and discharge of industrial
waste waters into environment as well as the release of toxic emission
into the atmosphere from automobile and industrial engines.
Technological breakthroughs like the Aqua Silencer can be the answer
to the reduction of toxic emissions into the environment from engines.
Currently, the Aqua Silencer is only suitable for use in industrial
engines and heavy weight vehicles. But R&D departments have taken
the subject into consideration and are going into developing and
redesigning the Aqua Silencer to make it possible to be fitted in to
automobiles keeping its aerodynamic

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 CHAPTER 12
CONCLUSION

It has been experimentally observed that the aqua silencer is

successfully effective in reducing emission of gases from the engine
exhaust. By using water as a medium, the sound levels have been
reduced and by using activated charcoal in water, it produces almost
pollution-free and smokeless emission and is also cheap considering
long term use. The aqua silencer’s performance is almost equivalent to
the conventional silencer. It can be widely used in industrial engines
and with a little improvisation, in heavy weight vehicles. This project
analyzed the smoke content of the exhaust gas before and after
treatment and it was found that there is a considerable reduction in the
emission as pointed out by the test results.

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 CHAPTER 14
REFERENCES

[1] Alen.M.A , Akshay.M, Prem Sankar.R , Mohammed Shafeeque.M

“ Fabrication and+ +6 Testing Of Aqua Silencer”, International
Research Journal of Engineering and Technology, Volume: 02 Issue:
05, Aug-2015.
[2] Mankhiar Ajay B,Sindhu L S,G Sasikala,“An Advancement to
Reduce Pollution Effectively by Using TI Nano tubes in Aqua
Silencer”,International Journel of Engineering Sciences and Research
Technology, (March 2014).
[3] Swastik R, Gajjar,“Design and Development of Aqua Silencer for
Two Stroke Petrol Engine”,International Journal for Innovative
Research in Science and Technology, Vol.1, Issue 1, (June 2014)
[4] “Developments of Emission and Noise Control
Device”,International Journal of Modern Trends in Engineering and
Research,Vol.02,Issue 01.
[5] Amruthraj M, Nataraj J.R. & Sushmit Poojary,“Emission Control
in IC Engines”,International Journel of Engineering Research abd
Devolopment,Vol .4, Issue 4, (October 2012).
[6] Guromoorthy S. Hebbar & Anantha Krishna Bhat, “Diesel
Emission Control by Hot EGR and Ethanol Fumigation; an
Experimental Investigation”, International Journal of Modern
Engineering Research, Vol.2, Issue.4, pp-1486-1491,(July-Aug. 2012).

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