Team Receives $14.5 Million to Develop Advanced Combustion Technology for Vehicles

A research team comprising industry, university, and national laboratory innovators — including Argonne National Laboratory — was awarded a $14.5 million research project to develop high-efficiency, clean combustion technology for vehicles. Other members of the team, which is led by International Truck and Engine Corporation (ITEC) in Warrenville, Illinois, include Ricardo, Borg-Warner Turbo, Jacobs Vehicle Systems, Siemens, Mahle, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, University of California-Berkeley, and Conoco-Phillips.

The project was one of 12 selected from a solicitation by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, FreedomCAR and Vehicle Technologies Program. The 12 projects have a total value of $175 million (with 50%, or $87.5 million, contributed by the private sector). Seven of the projects will develop enabling technologies, components, methods, and fuels for high-efficiency, clean combustion. These projects have shown potential to achieve efficiency goals for cars and trucks while maintaining cost and high durability with near-zero emissions. The remaining five projects will develop technologies to convert waste heat from engines to electrical or mechanical energy, improving overall thermal efficiency and emissions reductions.

In this project involving Argonne, ITEC will conduct research for the development and application of homogenous-charge compression-ignition (HCCI) combustion over as large an operating range as possible by integrating commercial or near-commercial fuel, air, and engine technologies with advanced controls. DOE will contribute $6,405,202 to the effort, while industry partners will provide $8,137,390. The goal is to develop a low-emissions technology that will be both less costly and more fuel-efficient than lean nitrogen oxide traps [(LNT) fitted to present diesel engines], assumed to be the leading candidate technology. It is expected that the HCCI-based technology package will cost $2,000 less than an LNT-based technology and will realize a 12% reduction in fuel consumption relative to LNTs.

Prior analogous technology (electronic fuel injection) and illustrative projected HCCI introduction paths (estimated year of introduction in the International engine manufacturing plant is 2010 — "year 1")

Argonne will evaluate the cost effectiveness and market potential of the engine technology, taking into account cost and performance attributes developed by the study team. Researchers will adapt several existing models to the needs of the project:

• The VISION model will be used to translate sales predictions for the ITEC technology into disaggregate fleet fuel consumption and emissions totals and will total aggregate national fuel consumption and emissions from the disaggregate submodels developed.
• The GREET model (Greenhouse Gas, Regulated Emissions and Energy Use in Transportation) will be used to construct "per vehicle full fuel cycle emissions and fuel consumption, focusing on net crude oil consumption.
• The AVID model (Advanced Vehicle Introduction Decisions) will be used as a starting point for market share predictions.

The diverse commercial truck and bus market served by ITEC will require each of these models to be adapted to the specific market segment, including pickup trucks, urban delivery straight trucks, school buses, and combination trucks. Within each of these categories, there are several truck body configurations. Argonne researchers will study the fuel-use patterns and sales rates of each truck-type category and will characterize available competing technologies to develop estimates of first-cost differentials and fuel savings.

Primary performance measures will estimate differences in initial cost, fuel consumption, and emissions of the ITEC HCCI technology developed from the research against known, competing technologies. Secondary performance measures will track total national oil use reduction and emissions changes. The HCCI technology will be demonstrated in a commercial diesel engine.

In 2001, the United States used more than 10 million barrels of crude oil per day for passenger and commercial vehicles. Over half of that oil is imported from foreign countries. Current projections show imports will fulfill about 70% of domestic needs by the year 2025. Increasing the energy efficiency of our nation's passenger and commercial vehicles is an effective way to reduce dependence on imported oil while also reducing environmental emissions.