🚀 go-pugleaf

In article <4d4if7$ltc@spectator.cris.com>, grep@cris.com (George B) writes:

|> Are you totally ... never mind. A ICV relies on ONE battery for a
|> short burst of power ONE time (to get started) before recharging it.
|> It DOES NOT rely on the battery once running, there is an interesting
|> part called the Alternator that generates power for accessories and
|> also recharges the battery for the next start.
|>
My old Dodge Ram '86 stopped twice on long-distance driving because the battery
was empty.  I think there was a problem with the electronics that caused it,
but still...
 
|> A pound of hydrocarbon combined with air produces about the same
|> amount of CO2 regardless of the type of hydrocarbon ... or maybe I
|> should be accurate and speak in moles. 

Not excactly,  CH4 produce one mole CO2 per mole burned and C2H6 produce two
moles CO2 per mole burned, but it does not produce as much as twice the amount
of energy.  pure C produces a different amount of energy per produced CO2 than
the others as well.

|> Anyhow, in open air, gasoline
|> and coal are about the same. With EGR, catalytic converters and closed
|> loop control, I would rather live with ICV exhaust than a coal power
|> plant smokestack.

I don't agree.  Coal power plants use continous burning, which produces 
cleaner exhaust than the fast combustion in internal combustion engines.

There are also several problems with catalytic conversion in cars.  First, 
it only works at lambda=1, which is not the most energy effective lambda.
Second, the converter itself is an obstruction to gas flow, and thereby increases
fuel consumption.


|> Natural gas would be best. It is the exception and burnes VERY clean
|> even in open air.

This is partly due to the continous burning.

|> Power plants operate at maximum efficiency only at full
|> throttle.  Cars operate at maximum at everywhere EXCEPT full throttle.
|> I do not know of too many drivers that send a lot of time a
|> wide-open-throttle (WOT) in their car.
|>
petrol-driven cars (spark ignited) operate at maximum efficiency at full throttle,
at the peak of the momentum curve (Nm) plus/minus due to effects of the exhaust pipes
and intake manifold.  Turbochargers change the picture a bit too.
Source: Internal Combustion Engines by Heywood.

 
|> It is much easier to put a catalytic converter on very
|> auto than to put a single one on a power plant.

Not at all.  A car's engine has to be specifically designed for a catalytic converter for it
to work at all.  An engine which is not designed for cat. is lean-burn, and a cat. will
then increase the emissions of NOx (while decreasing emissions of CO and HC)

New regulations on cars won't have effects until several years, because cars last for 20 years.


 

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