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In order to meet more stringent evaporative emissions requirements, multiple advancements in vehicle fuel system and carbon canister technologies have been made. Regardless of technological advancements, the vapor pressure of the fuel remains a vital property in controlling evaporative emissions. A series of tests were performed to explore the effects of vapor pressure on multiday diurnal evaporative emissions for 9 and 10 psi Reid Vapor Pressure (RVP) 10% ethanol (E10) gasoline-blend fuels, followed by tests with 7 psi RVP E10 gasoline on a subset of the same vehicles. A test procedure was developed to monitor evaporative emissions, canister loading profiles and breakthrough emissions for each of the fuels. A total of five vehicles were tested on all 3 fuels, blended to represent 7, 9, and 10 psi at sea level. Tests were run over 14 days using the United States (U.S.)

In-line hydrocarbon (HC) traps are not widely used to reduce HC emissions due to their limited durability, high platinum group metal (PGM) concentrations, complicated processing, and insufficient hydrocarbon (HC) retention temperatures required for efficient conversion by the three-way catalyst component. New trapping materials and system architectures were developed utilizing an engine dynamometer test equipped with dual Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectrometers for tracking the adsorption and desorption of various HC species during the light-off period. Parallel laboratory reactor studies were conducted which show that the new HC trap formulations extend the traditional adsorption processes (i.e., based on physic-sorption and/or adsorption at acid sites) to chemical reaction mechanisms resulting in oligomerized, dehydro-cyclization, and partial coke formation.

Nissan Motor Company has recently released the �Nissan Green Program 2016� which is a six-year action plan embodying the company�s environmental philosophy: Symbiosis of People, Vehicles and Nature. One of the key activities of this Program is the successful penetration of Zero-Emission Vehicles into the market which includes electric vehicle (EV) cumulative sales of 1.5M units with our Alliance partner Renault, introduction of a fuel cell electric vehicle (FCEV) into the market, taking a global leadership in supplying batteries for electric drive and creating zero-emission societies. This presentation will highlight some of these key activities. Presenter Kev Adjemian, Nissan Technical Center NA

A fuel cell (FC) powerplant is an electrochemical engine that converts fuel and an oxidant electrochemically into electric energy, water and other chemical byproducts. When hydrogen is used as the fuel, the only products of the electrochemical reactions are water and electric power. Other conventional and advanced powerplants for transportation, such as the internal combustion (IC) engine, the Diesel engine and others, are thermal combustion engines. The theoretical or thermodynamic efficiency of a fuel cell or electrochemical engine is much higher than the thermodynamic efficiency of a heat engine. The practical efficiency of a fuel cell is highest at partial load, whereas the practical efficiency of a heat engine is highest at maximum power. A survey is presented of the different fuel cell types and their characteristics. The proton-exchange-membrane (PEM) fuel cell is shown to be the best available fuel cell for transportation applications.