THE CLEAN FUELS REPORT - A Quantitive Comparison Of Motor Fuels, Related Pollution And Technologies: 2008

"The Clean Fuels Report: A Quantitative Comparison of Motor Fuels, Related Pollution and Technologies" is a unique perspective on one of the largest and most talked about issues of our time – how to adjust our use of motor fuels to clean the air? The author, a mechanical design engineer and past alternative fuel fleet manager, asked this question in 1990 and has spent the intervening years in researching and building devices that could possibly provide the answer.

This report is a unique synthesis of comparative empirical data, practical experience and broad research. It is an engineers review paper that pulls all the pertinent facts together without bias or wasted words, distilling the main thesis into about 65 pages. Another 45 pages are devoted to concise information that is relevant and enlightening but peripheral to the two main questions, “Which fuel is cleanest? Can we use it practically? “

To get the answers, the relevant data is sourced, massaged into comparable format and presented as concisely as possible without bias.

For example, the central data on the emission of the fuels is from the California Air Resources Board and is classic government science – long on data and short on analysis. The measured data while accurate is in no way comparable because it has too many variables. There are 6 fuels with 67 measured chemical compounds in each exhaust stream. So to make a design decision about these requires comparing about 400 figures. A change of fuel or an engine improvement that reduces one of these may raise another two. To see through this kind of problem the data is put through an averaging index and then presented graphically. In this form it presents clear and surprising results.

The technical answers are surprising and will dictate the general direction of future motor transportation but attention is given to the inevitable geo-political winds that will colour the almost black and white engineering decisions.

Our interconnected societies have a massive investment in transportation fuels and how they are used. Any environmental decision that influences the type of fuel used can have far reaching economic effects. Staying on top of the information at the technical level is the first important step to making sure that these effects are to your company’s profit not to it’s cost.

As fossil oil supplies peak and wind down what could possibly step in to take it’s place? As the world struggles with climate change and local pollution what alternative fuels can help? People in many occupations are trying to deal with these questions and many do not have solid comparative information to draw conclusions. Wrong conclusions on decisions of this scale are hugely expensive. This report helps clear the fog of special interest information (often posing as science) and journalistic bombast that emanates from our media.

The CFR is the quickest way to understand the issues and solutions on this vital subject for engineers, technicians and executives in the automotive and trucking industries, the oil industry and other energy industries, as well as environmentalists, fleet managers, teachers, professors, journalists and, the politicians who will be making many of the decisions that will ultimately affect us all. Once read, it is also an excellent reference document.

Comments about the CFR:

“An excellent job.”, Arie van der Lee, Chief Engineer, Alternative Fuel Systems, Calgary, Alberta.

“A very balanced report.”, Rob Renner, Province of Alberta Minister for the Environment, Canada.

A smaller and earlier version of The Clean Fuels report was sold to many companies including the Ford Motor Company. The report was also presented at the Canadian House of Commons in it’s lead up to the Kyoto Agreement. SHOW LESS READ MORE >

INTRODUCTION

OUTLINE

GLOBAL WARMING

THE LOCAL POLLUTANTS

COMPARATIVE FIGURES FOR EXHAUST EMISSIONS

DISCUSSION OF EXHAUST EMISSIONS

DISCUSSION OF OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
- In General
- The Gaseous Fuels
- The Liquid Fuels
- Supply

COMPARATIVE TABLES OF ALTERNATIVE FUEL CHARACTERISTICS

CONCLUSIONS

RECOMMENDATIONS & EXPECTATIONS

REFERENCES

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

APPENDICES

Appendix A - Emission Rate Summary Including Methane
Appendix B - Emission Rate Summary Utilising Total Hydrocarbons
Appendix C - Typical Measured Exhaust Emissions from C.A.R.B.
Appendix D - Health and Atmospheric Effects of the Major Vehicular Emissions
Appendix E - Emission Rate Summary as Presented by C.A.R.B.
Appendix F - Earth Temperature Records
Appendix G - Atmospheric CO2 Levels of the Last 550 Million Years
Appendix H - U.K. Oil Production & Consumption Graph
Appendix I - Physical Properties of Fuels
Appendix J - Overview of Exhaust Emissions Reduction Technologies
Appendix K - Global Emissions Indices and Fuel Energy Densities.
Appendix L - The Excess Air Factor in Internal Combustion Engines
Appendix M - The Corporate Average Fuel Economy
Appendix O - The World’s Population Since the Last Ice Age

Trevor Jones is a Rolls-Royce Aero Engines trained Mechanical Design Engineer with an HNC in Mechanical Engineering obtained while doing a 5 year fully structured apprenticeship in Derby, U.K.. He has many years of engineering experience in alternative fuel related fields. The international debate and economics of fuels has been a major influence on his life and has led to involvement in the construction, design, maintenance and/or operation of engines run on gasoline, diesel, kerosene and LPG.

His first writings and exposure to the emissions and fuels debate was at the University of Nottingham, England in 1973 when the first oil crisis was imminent, the prestigious Club of Rome’s book “The Limits to Growth” was forecasting the end of fossil oil in 10 years and, Britain was in the grips of rotating national strikes that plunged the country into darkness and temporarily shortened the work week to 3 days. The consequential disillusionment with engineering and Britain led to an emigration to Canada in pursuit of a career as a mountaineer. This was the dominant personal motivation for about 15 years, during which time about 5 years was spent on full time climbing and travelling to remote parts of the world. He has logged some 90 mountaineering ‘firsts’ all over the world.

On arrival in western Canada in 1975 he was confronted with the reality of the oil boom in Alberta, the then little known Athabasca oil sands and the boom and bust nature of the Alberta oil economy. In the mid 1980s, after the Canadian political confrontation that produced the National Energy Policy and the collapse of the Alberta oil industry, there was more money and stability in owning and operating a fleet of LPG powered taxis than there was in engineering jobs. He bought a small fleet of 7 luxury cabs, converted them to LPG and ran them until 1990 when he set about his first in depth research into clean fuels. Since then he has been involved in many research efforts, publications, committees, public presentations and entrepreneurial endeavours related to clean fuels and commercialisation of new technologies.