São Paolo Puts Ethanol Bus into Service in BEST Project; E25 Prius Hybrids Under Test
23 December 2007
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| The Scania-based E95 bus in São Paolo. |
São Paulo, Brazil’s Sistema Metropolitano de Transporte (Metra—Metropolitan Transport System), has put into operation the first Scania-based E95 ethanol bus it will test as one element of Brazil’s two-part involvement in the BioEthanol for Sustainable Transport (BEST) project. (Earlier post.)
Scania delivered the bus chassis in May 2007; the bus was completed in Brazil. The Scania ethanol bus uses 95% ethanol with 5% ignition improver in a modified diesel engine, the third-generation variant of the E95 application. Scania has raised the compression ratio from 18:1 to 28:1, added larger fuel injection nozzles, and altered the injection timing.
The E95 engine delivers 269 kW (230 hp), has the same thermal efficiency as a regular diesel engine and is certified for both Euro 5 and EEV standards.
The trial is being co-ordinated by biofuel experts at the Brazilian Reference Centre on Biomass (CENBIO), which is linked to the University of São Paulo.
The aim of the BEST project is to support the large-scale use of ethanol as a vehicle fuel. Trials take are taking place in ten urban areas around the world. Scania is supplying the city buses included in the project. In addition to São Paulo, participating locations include Stockholm, Rotterdam, Dublin, La Spezia (Italy), Madrid, the Basque provinces of Spain and Nanyang (China).
The second element of São Paulo’s BEST participation is the testing and evaluation of three Prius hybrids running on Brazil’s gasoline (which contains 20-25% ethanol). This demonstration fleet is being run by CENBIO and Petrobras. The hybrids are to be operated in regular traffic and user conditions for 2-3 years.
Resources
Bioetanol Para O Transporte Sustentável (CENBIO, Nov 2007)
Proposal to 6th Framework Third Call of FP6-6-1 Sustainable Energy Systems Activity Code SUSTDEV-1.1.5 BioEthanol for Sustainable Transport—BEST
The DOE along with ADM did similar research in the 1990s. They ran E95 in 4 long haul ADM trucks. Really shows just how versatile diesel engines are.
http://www.eere.energy.gov/afdc/pdfs/casestudy_adm.pdf
Posted by: mus302 | 23 December 2007 at 05:25 PM
Interesting report. Another case of American R&D heading overseas! Perhaps the new RFS will change that?
It says a couple engine parts had to be replaced more frequently, but that's to be expected since they weren't designed for ethanol. I thought most interesting was the emissions profile:
* a third of the PM
* slightly less NOx (looks from the chart to be about 80%)
* way more CO (about 4 times as much!)
I guess we're trading-off evils here. Less PM is definitely better. Don't know whether CO could be easily catalyzed back to CO2, but doing so would make this an improvement.
Which still leaves the NOx problem. This really highlights the need for severe cost reduction for membrane gas separation technology. Someone once posted here in an article about coal burners the idea of using membranes to remove the nitrogen in air and replace it with CO2 from the output stream, thus eliminating NOx.
Posted by: Jim G. | 24 December 2007 at 05:02 PM
Jim G
From everything that I have seen CO does fairly quickly react with oxygen in the air to make CO2. But some of the parts breakage issues and the CO emissions could be addressed through the proper additives. I wonder if the 5% ignition improver that they are using in the Scania bus test is meant to address those two issues.
Posted by: mus302 | 25 December 2007 at 03:32 AM
Jim G
From everything that I have seen CO does fairly quickly react with oxygen in the air to make CO2. But some of the parts breakage issues and the CO emissions could be addressed through the proper additives. I wonder if the 5% ignition improver that they are using in the Scania bus test is meant to address those two issues.
Posted by: mus302 | 25 December 2007 at 03:35 AM
Interesting report.
Appreciate if some one could provide more information on this project we looking for partnership in developing the same project to subtitude our diesel powered truck to Ethanol 85-100 % driven one?
Thanks
Posted by: johannes | 10 June 2008 at 03:56 AM