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Frontiers of Chemical Science and Engineering >> 2010, Volume 4, Issue 2 doi: 10.1007/s11705-009-0240-3

“ALL FREE” — a novel design concept of applying partial oxidation process to vehicle engine

1.Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China;National Engineering Laboratory for Green Chemical Productions of Alcohols, Ethers and Esters, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China;Key Lab for Chemical Biology of Fujian Province, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China; 2.Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering, College of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University, Xiamen 361005, China;

Available online: 2010-06-05

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Abstract

With the rapid expansion of the global motor vehicle population, the transportation sector has taken up a growing proportion among all the carbon dioxide emission-related sectors. To contribute to solutions of the carbon dioxide-oriented problem in transportation, this paper proposes the “ALL FREE” concept that applies partial oxidation process instead of the conventional complete oxidation to vehicle engines. In such an engine, the fuels are partially oxidized into corresponding chemical products, which, as a result, enable the process to be theoretically free of CO, while the heat output of the partial oxidation could drive the vehicle. On the other hand, the resulting products are of great value, which could decrease or even counteract the cost of fuels in transportation. In this paper, the thermodynamic and kinetic data (e.g., the heat output and heat release rate) of five selected partial oxidation reactions were calculated at length to demonstrate and exemplify the theoretical feasibility of the “ALL FREE” concept. It turned out that the partial oxidation of -butane to maleic anhydride has the most potential to meet the basic requirements of this concept. To sum up, this design concept is of significant application potential for the reduction of CO emissions in the transportation industry, although there remain many technical challenges.

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