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| Joint Center for Transportation & Air Quality |
| Project Title: | Use of Biofuels to Reduce Marine Vessel Emissions |
| Organization: | Texas A&M University - Galveston |
| Investigators: | Frank Warnakulasuriya (PI), George King, V. Treglia |
There is an increasing demand for applied research related to the use of "bio-fuels" in the transportation sector. While this research is advancing in some places for land-based transportation, almost no effort is expended on related research for marine vessels. This project will collect data on exhaust emissions from marine vessels in one particular zone of the Houston-Galveston region, and compare emissions from engines that use traditional fuels, and bio-fuels using a five-gas analyzer. The effectiveness of the new fuels will then be quantified. The results can be used to provide information for other applications in the region.
The following tasks are needed to conduct this project:
- Collect data pertaining to marine vessels for the focus zone from the vessel registration authorities, internet sites of NOAA, EPA, other sources.
- Divide the Houston-Galveston non-attainment area into zones based on berthing/operating of marine vessels.
- Categorize the marine diesel engines available in the focus zone based on application, engine specification and duty cycle of the engine and the vessel.
- Quantify the emission derived from certain types of marine diesel engines (eg: APUs that support marine vessels) operation within the focus zone. (A key segment of this objective is to establish representative marine engine duty cycles).
- Evaluate the use of a new bio-fuel blend, "E-Diesel", available from different manufacturers. (Examine the combustion cycle with reference to standards using a five gas exhaust analyzer. By using this analyzer will will be able to verify the behavior of the targeted engine class. By completing this review of the emission characteristics of E-Diesel, we can accurately assign a representative emission patter to the duty cycle. For this purpose, we expect to use the marine vessels belonging to the university and other private parties who have made a commitment to this project.)
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| Page Updated/Reviewed: 05/10/2006 3:33 PM |
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