The glow from six plasma devices that are being used for plasma-assisted combustion studies on a turbojet engine.
Reducing Fossil Fuel Emissions
December 2006 / January 2007
Volume 4 Number 6
With diminishing fossil fuel supplies and increasing air quality concerns, a combination of fuel efficiency efforts and new fuel development has become an important commercial focus for automobile and aviation companies as well as individual consumers. Scientists around the world work on alternative fuels and ways to make our fuels less environmentally damaging, while gasoline prices are on a roller coaster and the oil industry booms.
Plasma Assisted Combustion, or PAC, is a new technology developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist Louis Rosocha and his team that will help those companies and consumers. PAC technology was developed to achieve cleaner combustion and better fuel efficiency for turbine and internal combustion engines. Los Alamos' work with cold, or non-thermal, plasma (an ionized gas) will soon commercially serve the needs of fuel producers, environmental regulators and industrial end users.
Gasoline consumption in the United States reached nearly 400 million gallons per day in August 2005, a record high for the country. Additionally, according to Conoco-Phillips, global petroleum demand grew by 3.2 percent in 2004—€”or by more than 100 million gallons a day—€”and continued climbing in 2005 and 2006.
Not only is gasoline consumption a problem, but the emissions from burning gasoline are also of great concern to the world. Emissions such as carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides contribute to air pollution and global climate change. According to information posted on fueleconomy.gov, a federal government web site, about 146 million people live in countries where monitored air pollution levels in 2002 reached unhealthy levels.
Second in gasoline consumption is China and its exploding population. More than 30,000 new cars are hitting Beijing's streets every month, according to a recent article in the Boston Globe. And air pollution kills about 4 million people a year in China, reports the World Health Organization.
Alternative fuels, electricity and fuel cells are all potential replacements for gasoline and diesel fuels in the future. Solutions to the problems associated with fossil fuels are multiplying almost exponentially. Unfortunately, the use of combustible fuels is not going away anytime soon. With population longevity and growth rates escalating in industrialized nations, new markets and opportunities will likely materialize for years to come.
"Compelling needs in worldwide energy and pollution controls are creating new growth segments in large industries, from auto parts to commercial smokestacks," said Marc Oettinger, business development executive for Los Alamos' technology transfer division. "Los Alamos' PAC technology has aligned itself well and continues to keep pace with growing market opportunities."
The PAC technology currently in development for commercialization by PerriQuest Defense Research Enterprises, LLC, through a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement, or CRADA, with Los Alamos will help alleviate some of the environmental problems associated with engine emissions and depleting oil resources. Rosocha and his team (Don Coates, Yongho Kim, Graydon Anderson and David Platts) have been working on the PAC technology for about four years hoping to make fuel-efficient or cleaner burning engines through more complete combustion.
The technology consists of an electronic device that can be attached to an existing fuel injector. The device generates a cold plasma in the atomized fuel stream prior to combustion. The laboratory says this effect essentially breaks down the long chains of hydrocarbons in the fuel into smaller molecules—€”allowing the fuel to be burned more completely, resulting in more miles per gallon, or reducing harmful emissions.
"The research was really driven by market needs," said Rosocha. "In 2004, regulations were announced about air pollutants by all vehicles. In the future, air pollutants by vehicles, on- and off-road, are supposed to be more highly regulated. We knew this was going to create a great opportunity to develop a technology that would supply the demand for cleaner burning vehicles. So, we decided to see if we could do something about it."
Enforcement of the 1990 Clean Air Act Tier 2 regulations began in 2004, making emission standards for all cars, lightweight trucks and SUVs the same for the first time. The new standards require a 77 percent reduction in nitrogen oxides for passenger cars and up to a 95 percent reduction for light trucks from previous standards.
Unlike many other developing options for cleaner combustion and fuel efficiency, the PAC technology requires very little manipulation to the standard car, truck, SUV or airplane engine.
"This technology is an option to use conventional fuels and improve their use," Rosocha said. "You don't have to redesign an entire vehicle—€”you use a standard engine and modify it."
Options such as using alternative fuels, fuel cells or electric cars require consumers to purchase a new vehicle. Many of these options are in development and are not yet available.
The PAC technology can even help with biofuels and new diesel fuels that contain less sulfur. Rosocha is currently working on a biofuel project with the PAC technology at Los Alamos and says biofuels can be stabilized for better use with his technology.
"The new diesels contain 97 percent less sulfur than previous diesels, according to the Natural Resources Defense Council, which will certainly help emissions but you still have to burn it," said Brian Keller, vice president for PerriQuest. "Take the PAC technology together with the new ultra-low diesel fuels and we're hoping to get even more of a decrease in the pollutants."
Nicholas V. Perricone is the founder, president and CEO of PerriQuest Defense Research Enterprises in Meriden, Conn. He is a dermatologist who holds numerous patents in areas ranging from aircraft protection methods to therapeutic medicine.
"Dr. Perricone is a multi-talented, dynamic personality," Keller said. "He is very much involved in different ideas and concepts related to physics. He had been looking into plasma and the possibility of it being the type of technology that could assist in cleaner emissions and more efficient turbine and internal combustion engines. After some research, he found that Los Alamos held the most patents related to plasma-assisted combustion and our partnership with them was formed."
PerriQuest has a laboratory in Santa Fe, where Rosocha spends part of his time testing PAC on the jet and internal combustion engines. Under the CRADA Rosocha, his team and scientists from PerriQuest will analyze each engine. Each engine is first tested and data are taken on emissions and fuel efficiency, then the engine is retrofitted with the PAC technology and the engine is tested again.
"The concept for this technology was cleaner emissions and increased fuel efficiency," Keller said. "We are very confident that we will achieve both, because we feel one will come as a by-product of the other. It's hard to say what is more important because more stringent emission controls are going to be put into place and pollution is a huge concern throughout the world. But you also have to consider the rising cost of gasoline. We strongly believe that we will be able to achieve both of our objectives."
PerriQuest has set a goal to have the PAC technology for turbine and internal combustion engines completed and ready for production by mid 2007.
Krystal Zaragoza is a LANL communications specialist.
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