In this review a brief description is given for the biofuel cells along with their classification. The review is mainly intended to concentrate on microbial fuel cells (MFCs) where micro-organisms are used to convert the fuel to electrical energy and also this review gives an overview of the advances made in the past two years in MFCs in terms of their research, development and performance. Som...

The objective of the work was investigation of possibility of dual fuelling of CI engine with diesel fuel and ethyl alcohol in order to decrease engine emission and increase its thermal efficiency. Alcohol, which is injected to the engine inlet port evaporates quickly, but doesn't ignite (due to low cetane number). After self-ignition of diesel fuel, ignited alcohol would promote further burnin...

A tailored model for the assessment of environmental benefits achievable by light-weighting design solutions in the automotive field is presented. The model is based on the Fuel Reduction Value (FRV) coefficient which expresses the Fuel Consumption (FC) saving involved by a 100 kg vehicle mass reduction. The work is composed by two main sections: simulation and environmental modelling. Simulati...

The development of products with a modular structure, where the constituent modules could be derived from a set of common platforms to suit different market niches, provides unique engineering and economic advantages. However, the quantitative design of such modular product platforms could become significantly challenging for complex products. The Comprehensive Product Platform Planning (CP3) m...

A new fuel quality indicator called micropyrolysis index (MPI) is proposed for quantifying sooting tendencies of fuels in research laboratories. The MPI has been designed with the following characteristics: (i) oxygen independence, since sooting tendencies can change dramatically with varying oxygen concentration, (ii) reduced sample volume that can be utilized on a laboratory scale, (iii) impr...

Global climate models suggest enhanced warming of the tropical mid and upper troposphere, with larger temperature rise rates at higher elevations. Changes in fire activity are amongst the most significant ecological consequences of rising temperatures and changing hydrological properties in mountainous ecosystems, and there is a global evidence of increased fire activity with elevation. Whilst ...

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles have the potential to significantly reduce the oil dependence within the transportation sector. However, there will always be some trips that exceed the electric driving range, meaning that both electric energy and fuel must be used. For such trips the fuel economy is intimately connected with the energy management system and its ability to schedule the use of t...

A three-dimensional CFD modeling was carried out to investigate effects of VVT/VVA on gas exchange and fuel-air mixing processes in a diesel HCCI engine with early fuel injection. Four VVT/VVA strategies were conducted for this study: i) NVO strategy with fixed EVO and IVC timings but variable valve lifts – referred as NVO Strategy; ii) NVO strategy with fixed valve profiles but variable EVO an...

Renewable energy is an increasing need in our society. Microbial fuel cells (MFCs) represent a new method for treating wastewater and simultaneously producing electricity. In the present study, we demonstrated the feasibility of bioelectricity generation from brewery wastewater treatment using a mediator less MFC at different pH. We also demonstrated that addition of readily utilizable substrat...

Landfill leachate emerges as a promising feedstock for microbial fuel cells (MFCs). In the present investigation, direct airbreathing cathode-based MFCs are fabricated to investigate the potential of landfill leachate. Three MFCs that have different cathode areas are fabricated and investigated for 17 days under open circuit conditions. The maximum open circuit voltage (OCV) is observed to be a...