Remove Comparison Remove Conversion Remove Universal Remove Waste
article thumbnail

Advances in the conversion efficiency of thermoelectric materials

Green Car Congress

A collaboration including researchers from Boston College, MIT, the University of Virginia and Clemson University have achieved a peak ZT (thermoelectric figure of merit) of 0.8 for the materials and possibly good enough for consideration for waste heat recovery in automotive exhaust systems. The study by Yan et al.

article thumbnail

Lifecycle Study Finds Algae as Bioenergy Feedstock Has Higher Environmental Impacts than Conventional Crops in Energy Use, GHG Emissions, and Water Use; The Importance of Using Waste Streams

Green Car Congress

Model scope includes all upstream processing of biomass material; conversion to liquid or solid fuel is intentionally excluded. For all crops, the entire plant was used to facilitate comparison on a total energy basis. Biofuel conversion processes were excluded from the scope of the analysis. Credit: ACS, Clarens et al.

Water 218
article thumbnail

Study finds renewable fuels from hydrotreated vegetable oils outperform transesterified lipids and BTL from woody material in environmental lifecycle impacts and costs

Green Car Congress

GHG emission comparison between fossil diesel, transesterified lipids, HVO and woody BTL. If HVO is produced from waste feedstocks with low upstream impacts, the high conversion efficiency of the HVO production process will make HVO the preferred fuel to BTL from any woody feedstock, even woody waste. Sunde et al.

Oil 239
article thumbnail

NREL develops novel method to produce renewable acrylonitrile; carbon fibers from renewable biomass

Green Car Congress

Based on yields alone, this is a very important discovery: in comparison, after six decades of commercial-scale improvements and optimization, the traditional acrylonitrile production process achieves yields of approximately 80%–83%.

article thumbnail

The Case for Nuclear Cargo Ships

Cars That Think

The IMO’s previous goal was a 50 percent reduction by 2050 in comparison with 2008 levels. Vard Group is part of NuProShip , a consortium of the Norwegian maritime authority, universities, shipbuilders, and shipping companies that aims to develop a Generation IV reactor for marine vessels. We needed to get the conversation started.”

article thumbnail

Coskata Unveils Semi-Commercial Feedstock-Flexible Ethanol Facility; Springboard for Full-Scale Commercial Rollout

Green Car Congress

By comparison, the theoretical yield of ethanol from a dry ton of corn is 124.4 It first gasifies the feedstock to syngas (CO and H 2 ), then uses proprietary microorganisms—licensed from Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma—to convert simultaneously both CO and H 2 into ethanol. Click to enlarge.

article thumbnail

Naysayer Alert – the hydrogen red herring

My Electric Car

The only by products are water and a fair degree of heat, the latter indicating a degree of inefficiency and wasted energy. Second, while hydrogen can be otherwise produced through the electrolysis of water, this process requires huge amounts of clean and fresh water – a vital and highly valuable commodity of life that can’t be wasted.