Abstract
Internal combustion engines (ICE) almost entirely responsible to power the land and sea transportation needs for the past many decades. Amid the increasing awareness on environmental impact and volatility of fossil fuel dependence, internal combustion engines are envisioned to dominate way into the future. Looking ahead to the year 2020, many new technologies which encompass alternative engines and fuels may have increasing share of the transportation and industrial markets, however major proportion of prime movers will be powered by advanced internal combustion engines. The United States Department of Energy (DOE) stated that improving the efficiency of internal combustion engines is the most promising and cost-effective approach to increasing fuel economy of vehicle over the next 30 years. They put forward the targeted efficiency improvement of 25-40% and 20% for passenger and commercial vehicles respectively. Tackling the waste heat of exhaust gas will be one of the most significant technological efforts in achieving the required tall order efficiency improvements. Approximately 20 - 45% of the fuel energy into an internal combustion engine is wasted in the exhaust, which could be enhanced for system level efficiency improvement. DOE hasdemonstrated via a 2nd law estimate for exhaust gas recovery systems, that, peak brake thermal efficiency of a 1.9L diesel engine can be pushed from 41% to 44.5% - 53.6%, an improvement of approximately 8.5% - 30.7%. Thus, exhaust waste heat recovery holds great potential of improvement in engine brake thermal efficiency. There are some key technologies which have been tested and proven to recover exhaust heat and turn it into useful energy such as electricity. These are, among others, Thermoelectric Generator (TEG), Bottoming cycles and Turbocompounding (TC). The main objective of this chapter is to critically review available waste heat recovery technologies based on latest developments, research trends and economic feasibility. In addition, this chapter will also discuss and provide scientific-cum-economic assessment on groundbreaking and disruptive technologies to recover exhaust waste heat energy.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Automotive Exhaust Emissions and Energy Recovery |
| Publisher | Nova Science Publishers |
| Pages | 265-281 |
| Number of pages | 17 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781633215375 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781633214934 |
| Publication status | Published - 1 Jul 2014 |
Keywords
- Internal combustion engine
- Turbocharging and turbocharger
- Waste heat recovery
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- General Environmental Science