Mr. ERON SHOSTECK (Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers): Carbon dioxide is a direct byproduct of a vehicle's fuel combustion.
The engines do away with expensive cylinder heads where fuel combustion takes place.
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According to early estimates by the International Energy Agency (IEA), global CO2 emissions from fossil fuel combustion reached a record high of 31.6 gigatons in 2011, a 3.2 percent increase over 2010.
Consider, for example, a spate of new studies that have found a rather convincing correlation between the presence of small particulate matter (PM2.5, the fine particles blown into the air by road traffic, coal-fired power plants, industrial manufacturing, and residential wood fuel combustion) and both obesity and diabetes.
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These, he says, are 1, 500 times better than existing sensors at detecting hydrogen. (The gas combines with the tubes, changing their electrical properties.) Hydrogen detection is used to help control certain processes in industrial food production, for tweaking fuel combustion in car engines, and in monitoring certain bacterial infections.
Instead of a few, large fuel-combustion chambers, it will have 72 small ones dotted around its perimeter.
Also, the cleaner burning fuel reduces combustion byproducts over petroleum and diesel, cutting carbon monoxide emissions by an estimated 90%-97%, and nitrogen dioxide emissions by 35%-60%.
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There are essentially two methods to remove carbon from fuel: post-combustion and pre-combustion.
Petroleum caught on early as the main fuel source for internal combustion engines because it was plentiful and cheap to refine.
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It works by forcing fuel directly into the combustion chamber of each cylinder to mix air and gas simultaneously at the point of combustion, rather than mixing air and gas in a separate chamber like more conventional engines.
In SNG's case, the gas can also be compressed and used to fuel cars with internal-combustion engines.
After all, most heat comes from combustion of a fuel, and biomass is the only renewable and combustible fuel.
Fuel cells use the chemical energy of fuel to generate electricity without combustion.
One way is to increase combustion temperatures so fuel is burned more efficiently.
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T. which takes account of the carbon emissions incurred in the growing and harvesting of the crop, including land-clearance, its processing and the CO2 that results from final combustion of the fuel.
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Ford is developing hydrogen combustion engines along with fuel cells.
"We really and truly expect that fuel cells are going to double the fuel efficiency of the best internal combustion engines and in some cases triple it, " Roan said.
And we are currently developing a wide range of advanced technology vehicles, including more hybrids, more diesel engines, hydrogen internal combustion engines and even fuel cells later on down the road.
Fuel cells are twice as efficient as combustion engines, and that is enough for Honda.
And fuel cells are more efficient than internal combustion engines because they do not create as much unused heat.
It is also researching fuel cells as an alternative to internal-combustion engines.
Increasing fuel pressure has worked so far by lowering combustion temperatures.
Fuel cells use an electrochemical process, not combustion, to make energy.
Cars like the Buick Encore, Fiat 500 and Lincoln MKZ, meanwhile, improve mileage through direct fuel injection, which injects gas directly into the combustion chamber in extremely precise amounts.
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"Lots and lots of things are happening that indicate a worldwide interest, and most of the knowledgeable people are convinced that the next-generation replacement for the internal combustion engine is going to be a fuel cell, " Roan said.
When the battery is depleted (or when driven at very high speeds), the premium-gas internal combustion engine powers the car, but its fuel mileage suffers from having to shove around 400lbs of batteries.
The EPA pulled off the feat by sharply increasing the amount of oxygen-poor exhaust that is recirculated into the combustion chamber and increasing the pressure of the fuel being forced into the cylinder.
High-efficiency internal combustion engines combined with lightweight materials can dramatically increase fuel efficiency in cars and trucks.
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The technology isn't new-a patent for a hydrogen internal combustion engine was issued in 1928, and a 20hp fuel-cell tractor was demonstrated in the late 1950s.
Oil is found in relatively few places, and its energy density, pumpability and ease of use in internal-combustion engines makes it particularly well suited as a transportation fuel.
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