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Initial results are presented for the production of hydrogen from waste lubricating oil using a chemical looping reforming (CLR) process. The development of flexible and sustainable sources of hydrogen will be required to facilitate a "hydrogen economy." The novel CLR process presented in this paper has an advantage over hydrogen production from conventional steam reforming because CLR can use complex, low value, waste oils. Also, because the process is scalable to small and medium size, hydrogen can be produced close to where it is required, minimizing transport costs. Waste lubricating oil typically contains 13-14% weight of hydrogen, which through the steam reforming process could produce a syngas containing around 75 vol% H₂, representing over 40 wt% of the fuel. The waste oil was converted to a hydrogen-rich syngas in a packed bed reactor, using a Ni/ Al₂O₃ catalyst as the oxygen transfer material (OTM).

Reported in the current paper is a study of the effects of Nitric Oxide (NO) within a simulated Exhaust Gas Residual (sEGR) on Spark Ignition (SI) engine end gas autoignition. A modified version of the single cylinder Leeds University Ported Optical Engine Version 2 (LUPOE-2) engine was designed to completely eliminate retained residual gas and so allow unambiguous definition of the composition of the in-cylinder charge. The engine was alternately operated on stoichiometric mixtures of iso-octane, two Primary Reference Fuels (PRF), a Toluene Reference Fuel (TRF), and a commercially available Unleaded Gasoline (ULG) and air. These mixtures were diluted with sEGR (products of the complete stoichiometric combustion of the given fuel/air mixture) in mass fractions ranging from 0-15%; with and without 5000ppm NO (0.52% by mass) within that sEGR.

A SI probe car, defined here as a normal commercial car equipped with GPS, in-vehicle FTIR tailpipe emission measurement and real time fuel consumption measurement systems, and temperature measurements, was used for measuring greenhouse gas emissions including CO2, N2O and CH4 under real world urban driving conditions. The vehicle used was a EURO4 emission compliant SI car. Two real world driving cycles/routes were designed and employed for the tests, which were located in a densely populated area and a busy major road representing a typical urban road network. Eight trips were conducted at morning rush hours, day time non-peak traffic periods and evening off peak time respectively. The aim is to investigate the impacts of traffic conditions such as road congestion, grade and turnings on fuel consumption, engine thermal efficiency and emissions.

The paper discusses the concept, design and final results from the ‘Ultra Boost for Economy’ collaborative project, which was part-funded by the Technology Strategy Board, the UK's innovation agency. The project comprised industry- and academia-wide expertise to demonstrate that it is possible to reduce engine capacity by 60% and still achieve the torque curve of a modern, large-capacity naturally-aspirated engine, while encompassing the attributes necessary to employ such a concept in premium vehicles. In addition to achieving the torque curve of the Jaguar Land Rover naturally-aspirated 5.0 litre V8 engine (which included generating 25 bar BMEP at 1000 rpm), the main project target was to show that such a downsized engine could, in itself, provide a major proportion of a route towards a 35% reduction in vehicle tailpipe CO2 on the New European Drive Cycle, together with some vehicle-based modifications and the assumption of stop-start technology being used instead of hybridization.

The tailpipe exhaust emissions were measured using a EURO4 emissions compliant SI car equipped with on-board measurement systems such as a FTIR system for gaseous emission, a differential GPS for velocity, altitude and position, thermal couples for temperatures, and a MAX fuel meter for transient fuel consumption. Various nitrogen species emissions (NO, NO2, NOx, NH3, HCN and N2O) were measured at 0.5 Hz. The tests were designed and employed using two real world driving cycles/routes representing a typical urban road network located in a densely populated area and main crowded road. Journeys at various times of the day were conducted to investigate traffic conditions impacts such as traffic and pedestrian lights, road congestion, grade and turning on emissions, engine thermal efficiency and fuel consumption. The time aligned vehicle moving parameters with Nitrogen pollutant emission data and fuel consumption enabled the micro-analysis of correlations between these parameters.

A Gas to liquid (GTL) fuel was investigated for its combustion and emission performance in an IVECO EURO5 DI diesel engine with a DOC (Diesel Oxidation Catalyst) and DPF (Diesel Particle Filter) installed. The composition of the GTL fuel was analyzed by GC-MS (gas chromatography-mass spectrometry) and showed the carbon distribution of 8-20. Selected physical properties such as density and distillation were measured. The GTL fuel was blended with standard fossil diesel fuel by ratios of diesel/GTL: 100/0, 70/30, 50/50, 30/70 and 0/100. The engine was equipped with a pressure transducer and crank angle encoder in one of its cylinders. The properties of ignition delay and maximum in-cylinder pressure were studied as a function of fraction of the GTL fuel. Particle emissions were measured using DMS500 particle size instrument at both upstream (engine out) and downstream of the DPF (DPF out) for particle number concentrations and size distribution from 5 nm to 1000 nm.

Due to the variability of real traffic conditions for vehicle testing, real-world vehicle performance estimation using simulation method become vital. Especially for heavy duty vehicles (e.g. 40 t trucks), which are used for international freight transport, real-world tests are difficult, complex and expensive. Vehicle simulations use mathematical methods or commercial software, which take given driving cycles as inputs. However, the road situations in real driving are different from the driving cycles, whose speed profiles are obtained under specific conditions. In this paper, a real-world vehicle performance estimation method using simulation was proposed, also it took traffic and real road situations into consideration, which made it possible to investigate the performance of vehicles operating on any roads and traffic conditions. The proposed approach is applicable to all kind of road vehicles, e.g. trucks, buses, etc. In the method, the real-road network includes road elevation.

Heat Release Rate (HRR) analysis is indispensable in engine research. The HRR of Internal Combustion Engines (ICEs) is most sensitive to gamma (γ). The proposed HRR models in literature were largely based on γ expressed as functions of temperature. However, γ is depended on temperature as well as the excess air ratio (λ). In this work, an improved HRR model based on γ(T, λ) was used to investigate the combustion behaviour of standard diesel, Gas-to-Liquid (GTL) diesel and Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil (HVO) diesel in a 96 kW, multiple fuel injection, Euro V, Direct Injection (DI) engine. The improved HRR model (Leeds HRR model) was validated for the alternative fuels by comparing the fuel masses predicted by the model to the measured fuel masses. The fuel masses predicted by the Leeds HRR model were also compared to the predictions from four HRR models that were based on γ(T).

In order to improve energy supply diversity and reduce carbon dioxide emissions, sustainable bio-fuels are strongly supported by EU and other governments in the world. While the feedstock of biofuels has caused a debate on the issue of sustainability, the used cooking oil (UCO) has become a preferred feedstock for biodiesel manufacturers. However, intensive energy consumption in the trans-esterification process during the UCO biodiesel production has significantly compromised the carbon reduction potentials and increased the cost of the UCO biodiesel. Moreover, the yield of biodiesel is only ∼90% and the remaining ∼10% feedstock is wasted as by-product glycerol. Direct use of UCO in diesel engines is a way to maximize its carbon saving potentials.

Research is currently being undertaken to develop improved suspensions for Combat Support Vehicles (CSV's). Part of this work focuses on the feasibility of using intelligent suspensions to continuously optimise the vehicles performance as the operating environment changes. For an intelligent suspension to be effective in this case, it should enable increased vehicle speed from an improvement in ride performance whilst not detracting from vehicle safety or handling performance. This paper investigates the power consumption of a CSV vehicle with a slow-active suspension. From the power consumption it is possible to estimate the extra fuel consumption and reduction in vehicle top speed. The power consumption was evaluated for a set of representative terrain profiles and vehicle speeds, demonstrating the trade off between suspension power consumption and ride performance improvement.

Fluctuations in the operational output of spark ignition engines are observed from one engine cycle to the other, when an engine is run at technically identical operating condition. These fluctuations known as cycle-to-cycle variations, when high, adversely affect the performance of an engine. Reduction in cycle-to-cycle variation in engines has been noted by researchers as one of the methods of improving engine efficiency and operational stability. This study investigated the combustion performance characteristics of two fuels: E5 (95% gasoline and 5% ethanol) and ULG98 (unleaded gasoline) in a spark ignition engine, operating at varying inlet pressure conditions and ignition timing. A two-stroke, 80mm bore, spark ignition engine was operated at an engine speed of 750 rpm, inlet pressures of 1.6 and 2.0 bar and spark-timings ranging from 2 to 13 bTDC. A top cylinder head with a centralized spark plug was used in all the experiments.

The Swedish Biomimetics 3000's μMist® platform technology has been used to develop a radically new injection system. This prototype system, developed and characterized with support from Lotus, as part of Swedish Biomimetics 3000®'s V₂IO innovation accelerating model, delivers improved combustion efficiency through achieving exceptionally small droplets, at fuel rail pressures far less than conventional GDI systems and as low as PFI systems. The system gives the opportunity to prepare and deliver all of the fuel load for the engine while the intake valves are open and after the exhaust valves have closed, thereby offering the potential to use advanced charge scavenging techniques in PFI engines which have hitherto been restricted to direct-injection engines, and at a lower system cost than a GDI injection system.

Light-duty China-6, which is among the most stringent vehicle exhaust emission standards globally, mandates the monitoring and reporting of real driving emissions (RDE) from July, 2023. In the process of regulation promulgation and verification, more than 300 RDE tests have been performed on over 50 China-5 and China-6 certified models. This technical paper endeavors to summarize the experience of RDE practice in China, and discuss the impacts of some boundary conditions (including vehicle dynamic parameters, data processing methods, hybrid propulsion and testing altitude) on the result of RDE measurement. In general, gasoline passenger cars confront few challenges to meet the upcoming RDE NOx requirement, but some China-5 certified samples, even powered by naturally-aspirated engines may have PN issues. PN emissions from some GDI-hybrid powertrain systems also need further reduction to meet China-6 RDE requirements.

Pure rape seed oil (RSO), as coded BO100 (BO: Bio-Oil) to distinguish from biodiesel was investigated for a range of intake oxygen levels from 21 to 24%. RSO can have deposit problems in both the fuel injector and piston crown and elevated intake oxygen levels potentially could control these by promoting their oxidation. Increased intake oxygen elevates the peak temperature and this promotes the oxidation of soot and volatile organic compounds. The effect of this on particle mass and on the particle size distribution was investigated using a 6-cylinder 6-liter Perkins Phaser Euro 2 DI diesel engine. The tests were conducted at 47 kW brake power output at 1500 rpm. The particle size distribution was determined from the engine-out exhaust sample using a Dekati microdilution system and nano-SMPS analyzer. The results showed that for air RSO had higher particle mass than diesel and that this mass decreased as the oxygen level was increased.

Different driving test cycles, the Leeds-West Park (LWP) loop and the Leeds-High Park (LHP) or HPL-A and B (Leeds-Hyde Park Loop-A or B, hereafter referred as HPL-A or B cycle) loop were selected for this urban intersection research and results are presented in this study. Different emissions-compliant petrol passenger cars (EURO 1, 2, 3 and 4) were compared for their real-world emissions. A reasonable distance of steady state speed was needed and for the analysis made in this paper were chosen vehicle speeds at ~20, ~30 and ~40 km/h. Specific spot of periods of driving at the speeds mentioned above were identified, then the starting and ending point was found and the total emissions in g for that period divided by the distance was calculated. A typical urban driving cycle including a loop and a section of straight road was used for the comparison test as it was similar to the legislative ECE15 urban driving cycle.

This study uses on-board measurement systems to analyze emissions from a diesel engine vehicle during the cold start period. An in-vehicle FTIR (Fourier Transform Inferred) spectrometer and a Horiba on-board measurement system (OBS-1300) were installed on a EURO3 emission-compliant 1.8 TDCi diesel van, in order to measure the emissions. Both regulated and non-regulated emissions were measured, along with an analysis of the NO/NO₂ split. A VBOX GPS system was used to log coordinates and road speed for driving parameters and emission analysis. Thermal couples were installed along the exhaust system to measure the temperatures of exhaust gases during cold start. The real-time fuel consumption was measured. The study also looks at the influence of velocity on emissions of hydrocarbons (HCs) and NOx. The cold start period of an SI-engine-powered vehicle, was typically around 200 seconds in urban driving conditions.

The transport sector is one of the major contributors to greenhouse gas emissions. This study investigated three greenhouse gases emitted from road transport using a probe vehicle: CO₂, N₂O and CH₄ emissions as a function temperature. It should be highlighted that methane is a greenhouse gas that similarly to carbon dioxide contributes to global warming and climate change. An oxidation catalyst was used to investigate CO₂, N₂O and CH₄ GHG emissions over a real-world driving cycle that included urban congested traffic and extra-urban driving conditions. The results were determined under hot start conditions, but in congested traffic the catalyst cooled below its light-off temperature and this resulted in considerable N₂O emissions as the oxidation catalyst temperature was in the N₂O formation band. This showed higher N₂O during hot start than for diesel fuel and B100 were compared. The B100 fuel was Fatty Acid Methyl Ester (FAME), derived from waste cooking oil, which was mainly RME.

Numerical investigations are reported on the location of sites at which autoignition first develops in the end-gas ahead of a spark-ignited flame in a combustion chamber following rapid compression of an alkane + air mixture to high pressures and temperatures. Attention is drawn to the part played by the reactions that give rise to a negative temperature coefficient of reaction rate in an inhomogeneous temperature field. A ‘reduced’ kinetic mechanism was employed to model the spontaneous oxidation of n-alkanes. Flame propagation was described in terms of the ‘eddy dissipation concept’ and coupled to the more detailed mechanism by means of a switching algorithm. The CFD calculations were performed by use of KIVA II.

A 2-D simulation of fluid dynamic and chemistry interaction following end gas autoignition has demonstrated three distinct modes of reaction, dependent upon the temperature gradient about an exothermic centre. All three modes (deflagration, developing detonation and thermal explosion) can contribute to knock; the developing detonation case, associated with intermediate temperature gradient, has been identified as the more damaging. The simulation code (LUMAD) has been used in a systematic parametric study designed to separate the complex interacting events which can lead to mixed modes in real engines. A most significant finding related to the sequential autoignition of multiple exothermic centres.

Modern engine developments result in very different gas pressure-temperature histories to those in RON/MON determination tests and strain the usefulness of those knock scales and their applicability in SI engine knock and HCCI autoignition onset models. In practice, autoignition times are complex functions of fuel chemistry and burning velocity (which affects pressure-temperature history), residual gas concentration and content of species such as NO. As a result, autoignition expressions prove inadequate for engine conditions straying far from those under which they were derived. The currently reported study was designed to separate some of these effects. Experimental pressure crank-angle histories were derived for an engine operated in skip-fire mode to eliminate residuals. The unburned temperature history was derived for each cycle and was used with a number of autoignition/knock models.