1. Future Energy Sources for the Common Car Patrick de la Llana Date: 11/15/12

2. Outline Most cars nowadays use gasoline or diesel as energy source. – Gasoline fuels engine by being ignited to produce small explosions, and transfers energy from driveshaft via transmission. – Diesel does the same thing as gasoline but in a different manner. Most cars use oil for cooling, lubrication, and cleaning of internal components.

3. Info on gas Gas and oil are non renewable. Gasoline averages around 111,000-123,000 Btu (British Thermal Unit). In America its around 114,000/gal and 18,000/lb. Btu depends on source of gasoline, so Btu can vary. Btu=1.055 Joules, gets derivation from amount of energy needed to heat 1 lb of water from 39F to 40F. Gasoline Engine has about 25-30 % efficiency.

4. Info on Diesel Releases more carcinogens per gallon than gasoline. Better mileage than gasoline. Cheaper to produce than gasoline, but more expensive due to supply and demand. Diesel engines most of the time have 45% efficiency.

5. Example Btu chart

6. Diesel Engine

7. Possible Future Replacements for current energy sources Ethanol (Ethyl alcohol aka grain alcohol) Methanol Natural Gases Biodiesel Electricity Hydrogen fuel cell Hybrids

8. Ethanol Ethanol burns cleaner than gasoline. E85 (commonly used gas combo) uses Ethanol. Made from grain (just like moonshine). Burns cooler than gasoline (safer). Easy to make. Higher octane rating than gasoline.

9. How to make ethyl alcohol Grain is crushed. Grain is then fermented. Grain is then distilled to remove water.

10. Ethanol Cons: Btu of around 75,000 (for E85). Extremely corrosive ( specially made tanks and/or engines, usually out of plastic or stainless steel). A lot of farmland to ferment alcohol, and quite wasteful for an energy source.

11. Methanol Methanol is created by fermenting organic matter (most of the time from natural gas). Has octane rating of 100. Because of this, allows for higher compression and efficiency than natural gas.

12. Cons of Methanol 51% Btu of gasoline, so even worse than ethanol. Flammable, and also expensive to produce. In total not environment friendly because producing methanol from natural gases causes a lot of CO2 release, making it environmentally useless. Corrosive.

13. Natural Gases Produce way less CO2 and nitric oxides than gasoline (60% and 90% respectively). Exhaust is cleaner than some cities. Octane rating of 130. Obtained by drilling, usually made up of different components.

14. Cons of Natural Gases Gas has to be compressed to about 3000-3600 psi to be used. Btu is 44,000. Although cheap compared to gas, gives very little power. Non Renewable.

15. Biodiesel B100 Reduces CO emissions by 75% over regular petroleum diesel, and B15. Made from sources other than petroleum, such as animal fat, fry oil and vegetable oil. Rely on high compression to raise temperature of air hot enough to ignite. Does not rely on spark ignition. No modifications to diesel type engine needed to use biodiesel, also B100 has Btu of 130,000. Higher cetane rating than diesel.

16. Cons of Biodiesel B100 costs about 3.50$ a gallon. Waxing and solidifying in higher concentration blends of Biodiesel (like B50 or B100). Fuel must be hot to use.

17. Electricity Require no warm up, cheap to refuel. Averages 2 cents a mile if going by average of 10 cents per kilowatt hour. Release very little emissions. Most hybrids nowadays use electricity.

18. Cons of Electricity Limited Range. Slow charging, and are unusable when not charged. Most cars today get around 100-120 miles per charge. Most of US electricity (half) comes from coal- burning plants.

19. Hydrogen Uses fuel cells which convert hydrogen to electricity emitting only water and oxygen byproducts (very small amounts). Abundant and easy to produce. ZEV=zero emission vehicle. Gas must be compressed to pressure of about 3000 psi. Used by modern rockets.

20. Hydrogen Couple ways hydrogen can be used: – Plain hydrogen gas – Liquid hydrogen – Reformer

21. Sources: http://www.allpar.com/ed/diesel2.html http://auto.howstuffworks.com/diesel1.htm http://www.deepscience.com/articles/engines.ht ml http://www.deepscience.com/articles/engines.ht ml http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cetane_number http://energyquest.ca.gov/transportation/index.h tml http://energyquest.ca.gov/transportation/index.h tml http://www.howstuffworks.com/electric-car.htm http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel- efficiency/hybrid-technology/hydrogen-cars.htm http://auto.howstuffworks.com/fuel- efficiency/hybrid-technology/hydrogen-cars.htm

22. Sources http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/alter native-fuel/news/2690341 http://www.popularmechanics.com/cars/alter native-fuel/news/2690341 http://energyquest.ca.gov/transportation/fuel cells.html http://energyquest.ca.gov/transportation/fuel cells.html http://www.solarhighway.org/HydrogenFacts. html http://www.solarhighway.org/HydrogenFacts. html http://www.energyfuturecoalition.org/biofuel s/fact_biodiesel.htm http://www.energyfuturecoalition.org/biofuel s/fact_biodiesel.htm