Oxygen-Concentrated Engine Intake

See the first two links for some information about oxygen concentrators and oxygen generators. They all take power to run, but some run more efficiently than others. If this Idea is adopted, then we can be sure that research funding will increase, seeking efficient ways to extract oxygen from the air.

An ordinary combustion engine burns a fuel in air (compressed air in internal combustion engines). There are often two undesired results. One is that some portion of the fuel doesn't always get burned, which means the engine produces less power than we want. The other is that nitrogen in the air will sometimes combine with some of the oxygen. That's bad both because it is an energy-absorbing chemical reaction (reduces total engine power), and the result is a pollutant.

But what if the ratio of oxygen to nitrogen was increased from the usual/approximate 1:4? What if it was 1:1 or even 10:1, thanks to an oxygen concentrator? All the fuel would get burned! (No unburned fuel, even with Diesel engines!) Indeed, extra fuel could get burned, although heftier explosions inside internal combustion engines would likely require stronger cylinders.

With respect to nitrogen-oxide production, this might go up if there was plenty of oxygen left over, after the fuel burned. The obvious solution there, though, is to not feed any ordinary air into the engine; just feed pure oxygen from the oxygen generator, instead.

Which brings us to a new question, because as mentioned near the start of this Idea, it takes energy to run an oxygen generator. Will the greater power produced by the engine be enough to pay that energy cost, especially after researchers focus on finding ways to extract oxygen from air very efficiently? To Be Determined!