This paper analyzes the dynamics of U.S. automobile gasoline consumption since 1975. Using background literature on the history of domestic fuel economy and energy policy, I establish a conceptual model that explains historical trends in adoption of increased fuel economy. I then create a system dynamics simulation model to understand the relationship between increased fuel economy standards an...

To increase the power density and maximum allowable fuel burnup in light water reactors, new fuel rod designs are investigated. Such fuel is desirable for improving the economic performance light water reactors loaded with transuranic-bearing fuel for transmutation, as well as those using UO2 fuel. A proposal for using silicon carbide duplex as fuel cladding is investigated. The cladding consis...

In this paper, the sensor selection approach is investigated with the aim of using fewer sensors to provide reliable fuel cell diagnostic and prognostic results. The sensitivity of sensors is firstly calculated with a developed fuel cell model. With sensor sensitivities to different fuel cell failure modes, the available sensors can be ranked. A sensor selection algorithm is used in the analysi...

An approach to deal with the phenomenon of maritime fuel smuggling is to control the quantity of fuel that is supplied to vessels. For the same reason, fuel is delivered to marine vessels in Iran in accordance with the ration defined by the National Iranian Oil Products Distribution Company (NIOPDC). The ration is determined by a fuel consumption formula defined by the Food and Agriculture Orga...

Fuel cell electric vehicles are mostly relying on operation of their fuel cell and battery system. Single power source systems use battery units as backup; however, in heavy loads or instances with low State Of Charge (SOC) levels, there is a need for other mechanisms to provide reliable energy for the system. This paper investigates the natural enhanced reliability of operation in an advanced ...

There is much interest in developing fuel cells for commercial applications. This interest is driven by technical and environmental advantages offered by the fuel cell, including high performance characteristics, reliability, durability, and clean power. A fuel cell is similar to a battery—it uses an electrochemical process to directly convert chemical energy to electricity. Unlike a battery, h...

*Correspondence: Shanwen Tao, Department of Chemical & Process Engineering, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G1 1XJ, UK e-mail: [email protected] Ammonia, an important basic chemical, is produced at a scale of 150 million tons per year. Half of hydrogen produced in chemical industry is used for ammonia production. Ammonia containing 17.5 wt% hydrogen is an ideal carbon-free fuel for fu...

The current polymer-exchange membrane fuel cell technology cannot directly use biomass as fuel. Here we present a solar-induced hybrid fuel cell that is directly powered with natural polymeric biomasses, such as starch, cellulose, lignin, and even switchgrass and wood powders. The fuel cell uses polyoxometalates as the photocatalyst and charge carrier to generate electricity at low temperature....

Two modifications to a reference direct methanol fuel-cell (DMFC) system are considered to improve methanol fuel utilisation. Fuel utilisation can be optimised by minimising the parasitic methanol crossover by manipulating methanol concentration in the fuel cells. Simulations of the two systems indicate that there is considerable potential to increase fuel utilisation for dynamic concentration ...

A noble low NOx combustion technology, based on partial oxidation combustion concept in a fuel rich combustion zone, is successfully applied in this research. The burner is designed such that a portion of fuel is heated and pre-vaporized in the furnace then injected into a fuel rich combustion zone so that a partial oxidation reaction occurs. The effects of equivalence ratio, thermal load, and ...