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Oxides of nitrogen (NOx) emissions, produced by engines that burn fuels with atmospheric air, are known to cause negative health and environmental effects. Increasingly stringent emissions regulations for marine engines have caused newer engines to be developed with inherent NOx reduction technologies. Older marine engines typically have a useful life of over 20 years and produce a disproportionate amount of NOx emissions when compared with their newer counterparts. Wet scrubbing as an aftertreatment method for emissions reduction was applied to ocean-going marine vessels for the reduction of sulfur oxides (SOx) and particulate matter (PM) emissions. The gaseous absorption process was explored in the laboratory as an option for reducing NOx emissions from older diesel engines of harbor craft operating in ports of Houston and Galveston. A scrubber system was designed, constructed, and evaluated to provide the basis for a real-world design.

West Virginia University redesigned a 2002 Ford Explorer and created a diesel electric hybrid vehicle to satisfy the goals of the 2002 FutureTruck competition. These goals were to demonstrate a 25% improvement in fuel economy, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, to achieve California ULEV emissions, to demonstrate 1/8-mile acceleration of 11.5 seconds or less, and to maintain vehicular comforts and performance. West Virginia University's 2002 hybrid sport utility vehicle (SUV), the Exclaim!, meets or exceeds these goals. Using a post-transmission parallel configuration, WVU integrated a 2.5L Detroit Diesel Corporation engine along with a Unique Mobility 75kW electric motor to replace the stock drivetrain. With an emphasis on maintaining performance, WVU strived to improve areas where SUVs have traditionally performed poorly: fuel economy and emissions. Using regenerative braking, fuel economy has been significantly improved.

Linear engine alternator (LEA) design optimization traditionally has been difficult because each independent variable alters the motion with respect to time, and therefore alters the engine and alternator response to other governing variables. An analogy is drawn to a conventional engine with a very light flywheel, where the rotational speed effectively is not constant. However, when springs are used in conjunction with an LEA, the motion becomes more consistent and more sinusoidal with increasing spring stiffness. This avoids some attractive features, such as variable compression ratio HCCI operation, but aids in reducing cycle-to-cycle variation for conventional combustion modes. To understand the cycle-to-cycle variations, we have developed a comprehensive model of an LEA with a 1kW target power in MATLAB®/Simulink, and an LEA corresponding to that model has been operated in the laboratory.