1993 Soichiro Honda Lecture: The Challenges of Change in the Auto Industry: Why Alternative Fuels?

1994 ◽  
Vol 116 (4) ◽  
pp. 727-732 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. J. Nichols
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
Combustion Engine ◽  
Auto Industry ◽  
Transportation Fuel ◽  
Alternative Fuel Vehicles ◽  
The Past ◽  
Entire Country ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Difficult Transition

Development of vehicles to operate on nonpetroleum fuels began in earnest in response to the energy shocks of the 1970s. While petroleum will remain the predominant transportation fuel for a long time, petroleum supplies are finite, so it is not too soon to begin the difficult transition to new sources of energy. In the past decade, composition of the fuel utilized in the internal combustion engine has gained recognition as a major factor in the control of emissions from the tailpipe of the automobile and the rate of formation of ozone in the atmosphere. Improvements in air quality can be realized by using vechicles that operate on natural gas, propane, methanol, ethanol, or electricity, but introduction of these alternative fuel vehicles presents major technical and economic challenges to the auto industry, as well as the entire country, as long as gasoline remains plentiful and inexpensive.

Transportation Fuel Resiliency: Case Study of Tampa Bay

2021 ◽  
pp. 036119812110416
Author(s):  
Alexander Kolpakov ◽  
Austin Marie Sipiora ◽  
Caley Johnson ◽  
Erin Nobler
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
The United States ◽  
Tampa Bay ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Transportation Fuel ◽  
Fuel Supply ◽  
Preparedness Planning ◽  
The Past ◽  
Hurricane Irma

This case study presents findings from an analysis of the emergency preparation and response for Hurricane Irma, the most recent hurricane impacting the Tampa Bay region. The Tampa Bay region, in particular, is considered one of the most vulnerable areas in the United States to hurricanes and severe tropical weather. A particular vulnerability stems from how all petroleum fuel comes to the area by marine transport through Port Tampa Bay, which can be (and has been in the past) impacted by hurricanes and tropical storms. The case study discussed in this paper covers previous fuel challenges, vulnerabilities, and lessons learned by key Tampa Bay public agency fleets during the past 10 years (mainly as a result of the most recent 2017 Hurricane Irma) to explore ways to improve the area’s resilience to natural disasters. Some of the strategies for fuel-supply resiliency include maintaining emergency fuel supply, prioritizing fuel use, strategically placing the assets around the region to help with recovery, investing in backup generators (including generators powered by alternative fuels), planning for redundancies in fuel supply networks, developing more efficient communication procedures between public fleets, hurricane preparedness-planning, and upgrading street drainage systems to reduce the threat of local flooding.

Hydrogen Fuel: Opportunities and Barriers

2009 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Prashant Kumar ◽  
Rex Britter ◽  
Nitesh Gupta
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
High Efficiency ◽  
Combustion Engine ◽  
Supply And Demand ◽  
Effective Interaction ◽  
Transport Sector ◽  
Hydrogen Fuel ◽  
Sustainable Mobility ◽  
Transportation Fuel ◽  
The Future

The fact that 65% of the oil use is by the transportation sector, the increasing gap between the oil supply and demand, and the need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions make the introduction of alternative fuels, together with large energy efficiency gains, a key to sustainable mobility, both nationally and globally. The history of alternative fuels has not been very successful. Various economic, social, and technological barriers have impeded the acceptance of energy carriers such as hydrogen as a major transportation fuel. An effective interaction between the societal system of vehicle owners and a supply infrastructure of alternative fuels is needed for mass adoption of these future technologies. However, hydrogen due to its production pathways, particularly from renewable resources, inexhaustible, and clean nature, an ubiquitous presence and its promise of a sustainable transportable energy source give it a strong edge to be fuel of the future. This paper discusses the economical, social, and technological implications on the use of hydrogen as a future transport fuel. Furthermore, three cases based on UK Department of Transport studies showing the penetration of high efficiency vehicles, fuel cell vehicles (FCVs), and hydrogen fuel internal combustion engine vehicles (H2-ICEs) into the future transport fleet are discussed. With some assumptions, it indicates clearly that by the end of 2050 the H2-ICEs will play a major role in the UK transport sector whereas more time is needed for FCVs due to their less compelling consumer value possibility. Also, it can be inferred that the emissions from hydrogen’s full life cycle are about half those of the direct emissions from nonrenewable fuels such as the natural gas from which it is produced, thereby showing a promising future of hydrogen fuel to cope with the problem of climate change and the continuously increasing scarcity of conventional/fossil fuels.

scholarly journals Exploring the Introduction of Plug-In Hybrid Flex-Fuel Vehicles in Ecuador

Energies ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 12 (12) ◽  
pp. 2244 ◽  
Author(s):  
Danilo Arcentales ◽  
Carla Silva
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Natural Gas ◽  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
Developing Economies ◽  
Combustion Engine ◽  
Pollutant Emissions ◽  
Compression Ignition ◽  
European Environmental Agency ◽  
Flex Fuel ◽  
The Impact

In Europe, diesel combustion is being banned due to the NOx and PM2.5 emissions impact on air quality. The bus sector is being electrified and is increasing its use of alternative fuels, such as natural gas (in spark ignition engines) and bioethanol (in compression ignition engines), to reduce such harmful emissions. Even if a diesel bus is equipped with selective catalytic reduction (SCR), its NOx emissions are reduced its but produces more NH3 emissions that are PM2.5 precursors. In developing countries, the air quality is still barely monitored, however, the air quality issue is well known and is being addressed. Moreover, the Ecuadorian sugar cane industry is seeking ways to increase its ethanol production. This is the ideal framework to explore a new technology and energy source in developing economies such as Ecuador. This paper explores the impact of the Ecuadorian diesel bus fleet conversion to hybrid compression ignition ethanol (HEV-ED95), hybrid diesel and plug-in hybrid flex-fuel using electricity and internal combustion engine ICE-E20 and ICE-E100. The impacts are measured in terms of final energy consumption, criteria pollutant emissions (NH3, NOx, PM2.5) and 100 years global warming potential in a well-to-wheels framework. For the tank-to-wheels data the method follows the typical values of conversion efficiency from final to useful energy (cross checked with a microsimulation model), the Tier 2 European Environmental Agency approach combined with ethanol influence on compression ratio, lower heating value, criteria emissions taken from a literature review, and well-to-tank emission factors for electricity (10–58% thermal natural gas or coal powerplant contribution), for ethanol from banana industry wastes (ED95, E20 and E100), gasoline and diesel from US databases. A discussion on whether sugarcane biorefineries are necessary is highlighted in the results. All input parameters have an uncertainty range between a minimum and a maximum and the probability for each is giving by a uniform distribution.

scholarly journals An overview of key evolutions in the light-duty vehicle sector and their impact on oil demand

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 81-103
Author(s):  
Mohammed Albrahim ◽  
Ahmed Al Zahrani ◽  
Anvita Arora ◽  
Rubal Dua ◽  
Bassam Fattouh ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
Business Models ◽  
Combustion Engine ◽  
Alternative Fuel Vehicles ◽  
Fleet Size ◽  
Light Duty ◽  
Light Duty Vehicle ◽  
Oil Demand ◽  
Infrastructure Investments ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The light-duty vehicle (LDV) sector is undergoing many changes, including technological advancements (e.g., vehicle electrification, automation), new business models (e.g., ride-hailing), and government regulations and policies (e.g., fuel economy (FE) standards, zero-emission vehicle mandates, infrastructure investments, and incentives to encourage adoption of alternative fuel vehicles). Despite significant uncertainty, these developments, combined with demographic growth, will influence the future LDV fleet size and composition, and consequently the oil demand from LDVs. This paper provides a review of changes in the LDV sector and an assessment of their impact on oil demand. It takes into account the impact of LDV fleet growth, increasing penetration of electric vehicles (EVs) and alternative fuels (focus on biofuels), and improvements in internal combustion engine vehicles’ (ICEV) FE. Our analysis indicates that oil demand in 2040 could remain unchanged relative to 2016, but depending on the development of certain trends, demand could shrink or increase by ~6 million barrels per day (±25% relative to 2016). Our findings suggest that ICEV FE improvements could have a much greater impact on oil demand than the emergence of EVs. Moreover, preliminary research indicates that automation and shared mobility could reinforce the economic attractiveness of EVs, thereby increasing their penetration and impact on oil demand. Because of uncertainties in the development of these two trends by 2040 and difficulties in quantifying the complex interactions, we have not captured these effects in our model. Therefore, the range of uncertainty on the oil demand evolution could be even higher than our model indicates.

Cylinder Pressure Patterns in the SI Engine Fuelled by Methane and by Methane and Hydrogen Blends

2013 ◽  
Vol 210 ◽  
pp. 40-49 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrzej Ambrozik ◽  
Tomasz Ambrozik ◽  
Dariusz Kurczyński ◽  
Piotr Łagowski ◽  
Edward Trzensik
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
Combustion Engine ◽  
Combustion Engines ◽  
Cylinder Pressure ◽  
Si Engine ◽  
Working Medium ◽  
Engine Cylinder ◽  
Long Time ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Object Of Control

nternal combustion engine has been in existence for a long time, but it is still in the scope of research interests and is contained in the subject matter of numerous development studies and analyses. The paper presents basic goals of research into combustion engines. A short characteristics of piston combustion engine as an object of control and adjustment was provided. It was indicated that measurements of the working medium cylinder pressure patterns could be applied to control the performance of the engine, especially the multi-fuel one. The paper presents the results of measurements of the working medium pressure patterns in the cylinder of 1.6 dm3X16SZR engine of Opel Astra car, which was fuelled by petrol, methane, and also by methane and hydrogen blends. Substantial differences in the cylinder pressure patterns were found for the engine running on alternative fuels and on conventional fuel. An increase in the hydrogen content in the blend resulted in an increase in the maximum pressures in the engine cylinder and improvements of indicated parameters when compared with the parameters determined for the engine fuelled by pure methane.

scholarly journals Predicting Fraud Victimization Using Classical Machine Learning

Entropy ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 23 (3) ◽  
pp. 300
Author(s):  
Mark Lokanan ◽  
Susan Liu
Keyword(s):  
Machine Learning ◽  
Financial Literacy ◽  
Learning Algorithm ◽  
Demographic Characteristics ◽  
Financial Knowledge ◽  
The Past ◽  
Machine Learning Model ◽  
Long Time ◽  
Regulatory Organization ◽  
Investment Fraud

Protecting financial consumers from investment fraud has been a recurring problem in Canada. The purpose of this paper is to predict the demographic characteristics of investors who are likely to be victims of investment fraud. Data for this paper came from the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada’s (IIROC) database between January of 2009 and December of 2019. In total, 4575 investors were coded as victims of investment fraud. The study employed a machine-learning algorithm to predict the probability of fraud victimization. The machine learning model deployed in this paper predicted the typical demographic profile of fraud victims as investors who classify as female, have poor financial knowledge, know the advisor from the past, and are retired. Investors who are characterized as having limited financial literacy but a long-time relationship with their advisor have reduced probabilities of being victimized. However, male investors with low or moderate-level investment knowledge were more likely to be preyed upon by their investment advisors. While not statistically significant, older adults, in general, are at greater risk of being victimized. The findings from this paper can be used by Canadian self-regulatory organizations and securities commissions to inform their investors’ protection mandates.

scholarly journals Trends and Source Contribution Characteristics of SO2, NOX, PM10 and PM2.5 Emissions in Sichuan Province from 2013 to 2017

Atmosphere ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
pp. 189
Author(s):  
Min He ◽  
Junhui Chen ◽  
Yuming He ◽  
Yuan Li ◽  
Qichao Long ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Air Quality ◽  
Sichuan Province ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
So2 Emission ◽  
Source Contribution ◽  
The Past ◽  
Mobile Sources ◽  
Pm10 And Pm2.5 ◽  
Comparison Results ◽  
Pm2.5 Emissions

As one of the most populated regions in China, Sichuan province had been suffering from deteriorated air quality due to the dramatic growth of economy and vehicles in recent years. To deal with the increasingly serious air quality problem, Sichuan government agencies had made great efforts to formulate various control measures and policies during the past decade. In order to better understand the emission control progress in recent years and to guide further control policy formulation, the emission trends and source contribution characteristics of SO2, NOX, PM10 and PM2.5 from 2013 to 2017 were characterized by using emission factor approach in this study. The results indicated that SO2 emission decreased rapidly during 2013–2017 with total emission decreased by 52%. NOX emission decreased during 2013–2015 but started to increase slightly afterward. PM10 and PM2.5 emissions went down consistently during the study period, decreased by 26% and 25%, respectively. In summary, the contribution of power plants kept decreasing, while contribution of industrial combustion remained steady in the past 5 years. The contribution of industrial processes increased for SO2 emission, and decreased slightly for NOX, PM10 and PM2.5 emissions. The on-road mobile sources were the largest emission contributor for NOX, accounting for about 32–40%, and its contribution increased during 2013–2015 and then decreased. It was worth mentioning that nonroad mobile sources and natural gas fired boilers were becoming important NOX contributors in Sichuan. Fugitive dust were the key emission sources for PM10 and PM2.5, and the contribution kept increasing in the study period. Comparison results with other inventories, satellite data and ground observations indicated that emission trends developed in this research were relatively credible.

scholarly journals CYCLIC UNIVERSE AND INFINITE PAST

2007 ◽  
Vol 22 (34) ◽  
pp. 2587-2592 ◽  
Author(s):  
PAUL H. FRAMPTON
Keyword(s):  
Null Geodesic ◽  
Infinite Length ◽  
Infinite Time ◽  
Cyclic Universe ◽  
The Past ◽  
Long Time

We address two questions about the past for infinitely cyclic cosmology. The first is whether it can contain an infinite length null geodesic into the past in view of the Borde–Guth–Vilenkin (BGV) "no-go" theorem, The second is whether, given that a small fraction of spawned universes fail to cycle, there is an adequate probability for a successful universe after an infinite time. We give positive answers to both questions and then show that in infinite cyclicity the total number of universes has been infinite for an arbitrarily long time.

A review on tribological performance of ionic liquids as additives to bio lubricants

2020 ◽  
pp. 135065012097380
Author(s):  
Tehreem Naveed ◽  
Rehan Zahid ◽  
Riaz Ahmad Mufti ◽  
Muhammad Waqas ◽  
Muhammad Talha Hanif
Keyword(s):  
Ionic Liquids ◽  
Friction And Wear ◽  
Combustion Engine ◽  
Tribological Performance ◽  
Environmental Concerns ◽  
Published Data ◽  
Oil Reserves ◽  
Mineral Oils ◽  
The Past ◽  
Interacting Surfaces

All the moving components in an internal combustion engine require a lubricant that allows smooth sliding and/or rolling of interacting surfaces. Lubricant not only minimizes the friction and wear but also dissipates the heat generated due to friction and removes debris from the area of contact. Environmental concerns, decreasing mineral oil reserves and difficult disposal of nonbiodegradable conventional lubricants have urged the researchers to shift towards environmental-friendly lubricants. Number of tribological studies carried out in the past have proved that ionic liquid-based bio-lubricants are sustainable and biodegradable alternative to mineral oils. This paper presents a brief review of properties of ionic liquids and their ability to reduce friction and wear between the interacting surfaces. Tribological performance and compatibility of ionic liquids with various base-oils have been compared under boundary lubrication. The results reveal that phosphonium-based ionic liquids namely tetra-decyl tri-hexyl phosphonium bis(2,4,4-trimethylpentyl) phosphinate (P66614)i(C8)2PO2 and tri-hexyl tetra-decyl phosphonium bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate (P-DEHP) are more suitable for tribological applications. Since, ionic liquids can be tailored according to the application and millions of combinations are possible therefore, there is a need to summarize the published data in a more systematic and logical way.

Ethers and esters as alternative fuels for internal combustion engine: A review

2021 ◽  
pp. 146808742110464
Author(s):  
Yang Hua
Keyword(s):  
Alternative Fuels ◽  
Combustion Engine ◽  
Combustion Process ◽  
Pressure Rise ◽  
Engine Performance ◽  
Internal Combustion ◽  
Operating Conditions ◽  
Future Research ◽  
Particulate Emissions ◽  
Ic Engine

Ether and ester fuels can work in the existing internal combustion (IC) engine with some important advantages. This work comprehensively reviews and summarizes the literatures on ether fuels represented by DME, DEE, DBE, DGM, and DMM, and ester fuels represented by DMC and biodiesel from three aspects of properties, production and engine application, so as to prove their feasibility and prospects as alternative fuels for compression ignition (CI) and spark ignition (SI) engines. These studies cover the effects of ether and ester fuels applied in the form of single fuel, mixed fuel, dual-fuel, and multi-fuel on engine performance, combustion and emission characteristics. The evaluation indexes mainly include torque, power, BTE, BSFC, ignition delay, heat release rate, pressure rise rate, combustion duration, exhaust gas temperature, CO, HC, NOx, PM, and smoke. The results show that ethers and esters have varying degrees of impact on engine performance, combustion and emissions. They can basically improve the thermal efficiency of the engine and reduce particulate emissions, but their effects on power, fuel consumption, combustion process, and CO, HC, and NOx emissions are uncertain, which is due to the coupling of operating conditions, fuel molecular structure, in-cylinder environment and application methods. By changing the injection strategy, adjusting the EGR rate, adopting a new combustion mode, adding improvers or synergizing multiple fuels, adverse effects can be avoided and the benefits of oxygenated fuel can be maximized. Finally, some challenges faced by alternative fuels and future research directions are analyzed.

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