A cryogenic thermoelectric generator is proposed to increase the efficiency of a vehicle propulsion system that uses liquid nitrogen as its fuel. The proposed design captures some of the heat required for vaporizing or initial heating of the liquid nitrogen to produce electricity. The thermoelectric generator uses pressurized liquid nitrogen as its cold reservoir and ambient air as the high-temperature reservoir to generate power. This study concentrated on the selection of thermoelectric materials whose properties would result in the highest efficiency over the operating temperature range and on estimating the initial size of the generator. The preliminary selection of materials is based upon their figure of merit at the operating temperatures. The results of this preliminary design investigation of the cryogenic thermoelectric generator indicate that sufficient additional energy can be used to increase overall efficiency of the thermodynamic cycle of a vehicle propulsion system.

Thesis (M.S.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Dept. of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, 1980. / MICROFICHE COPY AVAILABLE IN ARCHIVES AND ENGINEERING. / Includes bibliographical references. / by James Brian Lewis. / M.S.

Nb-doped ZrO₂-CeO₂-Y₂O₃ solid solution (Nb-ZrCeYO) is studied as a possible oxygen storage component in three way automobile exhaust catalysts. It shows enhanced oxygen storage (OS) capacity with a higher extent of reduction at temperatures within the typical operating range of three-way catalyst compared with solid solutions without Nb. However, after several days of exposure to ambient air, the OS behavior of the Nb-doped samples shows significant degradation. Degradation is slowed for samples stored in evacuated environments (i.e. vacuum sealed glass tubes). NbOₓ segregation to the surface under oxidizing conditions is hypothesized as the cause of the degradation. This hypothesis is consistent with the temperature programmed reduction data. The addition of small amounts of Pt to the aged samples restores the enhanced initial performance advantages. It is postulated that electrons supplied by metallic Pt mimic reducing conditions, which are known to re-disperse surface NbOₓ species into the bulk solid solution, leading to stable, time-independent OS performance. However, the small advantage caused by Nb addition over the current technology is insignificant for the TWC application. Therefore, we focus on other environmental applications such as CO oxidation by Nb-containing catalysts with the specific objective of enhanced CO oxidation activity by formation of Cu¹⁺ species supported on Nb₂O₅. The preparation of a Cu(1)Nb(2)Oₓ results in a solid solution crystallized in three different phases: CuO, Nb₂O₅, and CuNb₂O₆. The solid solution shows enhanced low temperature CO oxidation (<155˚C) activity compared to the reference CuO solid solution. Analysis by hydrogen-temperature programmed reduction (H2-TPR) indicates there are two different Cu species in the Nb-containing solid solution: highly dispersed Cu species and bulk CuO. The existence of an interaction between Cu and Nb ions is hypothesized for the enhanced low temperature CO oxidation activity by formation of Cu⁺¹. This hypothesis is consistent with XPS data, indicating the existence of more catalytically active Cu¹⁺/⁰ and Cu²⁺ species in the Nb₂O₅ sample, where the reference bulk CuO oxide shows only the less active Cu²⁺ species. Impregnation of Cu-containing precursor salts on the Nb₂O₅ support leads to enhanced CO oxidation activity: The Cu supported Nb₂O₅ sample shows improved CO oxidation activity compared with the reference Cu supported on Al₂O₃. An isothermal aging test shows high stability of the Cu¹⁺ species on the Nb₂O₅ support at 155˚C for 20 hours in air. Studies of the optimization of the Cu supported Nb₂O₅ leads one to conclude that low surface coverage of NbOx on Al₂O₃ is the reason why these samples shows lower CO oxidation activity. The optimal amount of Cu species on the Nb₂O₅ support is 6%, where activity is similar to 1%Pt/Al₂O₃, the state of the art CO oxidation catalyst in industry, but a phase transformation of Nb₂O₅ occurring at 800˚C, leads to a loss in the enhanced CO activity. A gradual loss in surface area is observed for samples aged at higher temperatures, indicating support sintering as the main cause of the performance deterioration. Stable performance at low temperatures makes CuOₓ/Nb₂O₅ a potential candidate for stationary abatement applications, which operate at temperatures <400˚C. Advanced aging would be necessary to qualify it for specific applications. A kinetic model for CO oxidation of CuOₓ/Nb₂O₅ is also developed.

Digitized by Kansas Correctional Industries

University of Macau / Faculty of Science and Technology / Department of Electromechanical Engineering

The following thesis titled, Atlanta Automotive Particulate Matter Exposure and Evaluation, presents data obtained as a part of a joint project with Emory University, Rollin's School of Public Health. The Atlanta Commuters Exposure (ACE) Study uses both real-time and time-integrated sampling techniques for ambient aerosol concentrations. The ACE study is unique in that it will correlate the ambient aerosol concentrations with the concurrent health measurements. The primary objective of this thesis is to measure the concentration, size distribution and the chemical composition of PM2.5 inside the vehicle cabin for several commuters. The vehicles followed a scripted route along roadways in the Atlanta metropolitan region during periods of peak traffic volume, while the compact air sampling package of both real-time and time-integrated instruments recorded data. Real-time measurements for Particulate Matter (PM) were made using compact Optical Particle Counters (OPC), a Condensation Particle Counter, and a MicroAethalometer. The time-integrated measurements for Elemental Carbon (EC), Organic Carbon (OC), Water Soluble Organic Carbon (WSOC), particulate elemental concentrations, and speciated organics required filter collection methods. Thus a compact air-sampling package was created to combine both sets of real-time and time-integrated instruments. The following results are presented for the first four commutes. The framework for analyzing and presenting results is developed, and will be used for future commutes.

Thesis (M. S.)--Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, 2009. / Committee Chair: Guensler, Randall; Committee Member: Rodgers, Michael; Committee Member: Ross, Catherine. Part of the SMARTech Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Collection.

The first chapter of this dissertation examines welfare impacts of a combination of subsidies to alternative fuels (AFs) and alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs), and how they compare to gasoline taxes. The particular AF examined here is ethanol that is produced from agricultural products in a small open economy. The model in this paper characterizes a country or state where gasoline is the major source of fuel for automobiles, but that also produces and consumes ethanol as an AF. Gasoline combustion is polluting and its use equals the total amount of emissions produced. Thus, a gasoline tax here is the same as an emissions tax and is the most direct environmental instrument. However, increasing gasoline taxes for pollution purposes is often politically not feasible. Thus, this paper studies how closely subsidies to alternative fuels (AFs) and alternative fuel vehicles (AFVs) emulate abatement behavior from a unit gasoline tax in a simple three sector general equilibrium model, and in the presence of pre-existing labor taxes. The model can also be used to track the effects of each policy on outputs, exports, and fuel use. The analytical results of the model are then calibrated to data from the largest ethanol producing state in the U.S., namely Illinois. The paper finds that subsidies can achieve up to 64 percent of the welfare gains from the gasoline tax, if the uncompensated wage elasticity is low enough or the elasticities of substitution between the transportation goods is high enough. The second chapter estimates behavior of households who jointly make discrete decisions about vehicle ownership and continuous decisions about miles driven. The paper uses seven years of data from 1995-2001 for the 35 states and union territories of India. The estimated parameters will be used to calculate elasticities of each different type of vehicle for percentage changes in petrol price per unit distance travelled and in vehicle taxes. The paper also computes income and price elasticities for petrol consumption. Two types of vehicles predominant in India are cars and two-wheelers such as motorcycles, mopeds, and scooters. The latter type of vehicle is more fuel efficient than the former. However, patterns of vehicle ownership across the country reflect a growing number of cars relative to motorcycles. This paper investigates the impact alternative policies such as taxes on petrol or on cars have on efficient methods of vehicle emission abatement in India. In particular, the chapter estimates the effect of each such policy on vehicle choice and driving behavior, and how they in turn affect emissions. The main results are summarized as follows: First, continuous choice own-price elasticities are higher for 4w relative to 2w, given age, and for older vehicles relative to newer ones, within each category. Second, discrete choice own-price elasticities with respect to capital cost are higher for 2w relative to 4w. Moreover, older vehicles of each type are more sensitive to higher vehicle prices relative to their newer counterparts. Third, income elasticities for discrete vehicle choices are all positive and greater than unity. Thus, higher income encourages purchase of newer vehicles of each type. Moreover, usage of vehicles rises with income, conditional on the particular vehicle choice. Finally, the paper conducts simulations that alter the price per kilometer by adding either an additional gas tax, a distance tax or an emissions tax. Results show that a distance tax reduces vehicle kilometers traveled the most, followed by an emissions tax and lastly by the gas tax. However, local emissions are reduced the most by an emissions tax, followed by a distance tax and then by a gasoline tax. Even though it would be ideal to compare the results obtained in this paper to results generated using a micro-level data set, the estimates presented here are indicative of whether a distance tax or a gasoline tax is more effective for emissions abatement in India. The third chapter of this dissertation evaluates how information asymmetry in private automobile markets affects programs to accelerate vehicle retirement, also known as scrappage programs. We use a dynamic framework where agents have heterogenous preference for car quality. Cars can either be new, or used. While all new cars have the same quality, used cars can be of high- or low-quality. The quality of a car is perfectly correlated with emissions. The goal of a scrappage program is to induce car owners to voluntarily scrap low-quality used cars. One key result is that in the presence of adverse selection a subsidy that maintains an active resale market unambiguously makes all types of consumers better off. However, if this option of implementing the subsidy does not exist, then the only other way to induce effective scrappage in our framework is to shut down the used car market. Welfare implications suggest that it might be better not to do anything rather than have a scrappage program such as the latter. / text

published_or_final_version / Public Administration / Master / Master of Public Administration

Submitted to the Office and Energy R & D Policy, National Science Foundation