Alcoa expects its $21-million Alcoa Wheel and Transportation Products casthouse expansion at its Barberton, Ohio plant to cut in half the total amount of energy used to recycle aluminum for forged wheels, reducing greenhouse gases and increasing the overall efficiency and sustainability of the company’s manufacturing process. The recycling facility,... Read more →

AID (Automotive Industry Data) reports that first-time registrations in April of electric vehicles in Western Europe were up almost one-half to just under 2,600 units, representing 0.26% of the region’s new car market. Registrations of electric cars this April were up in eight markets, down in seven, AID reported. France,... Read more →

Researchers from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev and Ormat Industries Ltd. in Israel report the development of a comercially-viable, one-step catalytic hydrotreating process for the conversion of soybean oil to renewable diesel-type fuel in a paper in the journal Fuel. The conversion of soybean oil to green diesel was carried... Read more →

Cycling behavior of TEGDME-based electrolyte lithium−oxygen cells; capacity limited to 1000 mAh g−1carbon. Credit: ACS, Park et al. Click to enlarge. A team including researchers from Hanyang University (South Korea) and University of Rome Sapienza (Italy) have shown that operating temperature plays an important role in the performance of Lithium-air... Read more →

Russian oil and gas major Rosneft, 75% owned by the government, and the Venezuelan Corporacion Venezolana del Petroleo (CVP), a subsidiary of PDVSA, signed an agreement to create a joint venture to develop heavy oil reserves in Venezuela in the framework of the Carabobo-2 project. (Earlier post. Rosneft’s stake in... Read more →

EcoCAR 2: Plugging In to the Future named Pennsylvania State University its Year Two winner at the EcoCAR 2013 Competition in San Diego. The 15 universities competing in EcoCAR 2 gathered in Yuma, Arizona last week for six days of vehicle testing and evaluation on drive quality and environmental impact... Read more →

Panamera S E-Hybrid PHEV on the road. Click to enlarge. During an international press event in Germany, in which more than 42 test drives were conducted with journalists in the Panamera S E-Hybrid (earlier post) covering a total distance of more than 1,200 kilometers (746 miles), the new plug-in hybrid... Read more →

Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E) and the California Energy Commission today unveiled a utility-scale sodium-sulfur battery energy storage system (earlier post) pilot project to better balance power needs of the electric grid. The system has a 4 megawatt capacity, and can store more than six hours of energy. The... Read more →

Cyclone Power Technologies, developer of the all-fuel, external combustion Cyclone Engine, and McGill University of Québec, Canada have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to develop alternative solid fuel combustion systems for micro-sized power units. Cyclone has identified a business line for its external combustion technology in providing universal portable... Read more →

Total US petroleum deliveries (a measure of demand) were up 0.3% for April against the same month a year ago to average nearly 18.4 million barrels per day, but still recorded the second lowest April demand level in 17 years, according to the American Petroleum Institute (API). Gasoline demand fell... Read more →

IVLC uses an all-new rocker arm that switches between low- and high-lift intake cam profiles. The mechanism is actuated by an oil control valve through a dual-feed stationary hydraulic lash adjuster. Click to enlarge. The new 2014 Chevrolet Impala offers as one of its three engine options a four-cylinder Ecotec... Read more →

Synopsys, Inc., a provider of software, IP and services used to accelerate innovation in chips and electronic systems, announced the availability of the Virtualizer Development Kit (VDK) for Renesas RH850 MCUs to accelerate software development, system integration and test for RH850-based automotive applications such as body, powertrain/hybrid and chassis/safety control.... Read more →

The new MOF contains triangular channels running through the material. The walls of these channels trap the lower-octane components while allowing the higher-octane molecules to pass through, potentially providing a more efficient and cost effective way to refine high-octane gasoline. Credit: Science/AAAS. Click to enlarge. An international team of researchers... Read more →

Top: illustration of the assembled G-S-CNF multi- layered coaxial nanocomposites. Bottom: Comparison of specific capacity and Coulombic efficiency as a function of cycle numbers for electrodes assembled with and without graphene wrapping. Credit: ACS, Lu et al. Click to enlarge. Researchers at Duke University have developed a novel graphene–sulfur–carbon nanofibers... Read more →

Independent testing of two versions of Andrea Rossi’s E-CAT HT device resulted in computed volumetric and gravimetric energy densities far above those of any known chemical source. “Even by the most conservative assumptions as to the errors in the measurements, the result is still one order of magnitude greater than... Read more →

VG Energy, an agricultural biotech company, entered a strategic alliance with DAK Renewable Research to conduct field trials using LipidMax to increase corn oil yield. LipidMax selectively inhibits certain metabolic pathways (Metabolic Disruption Technology, earlier post) to increase the oil yield in plants, with potential applications for biofuels production. DAK... Read more →

Ricardo-TARDEC FED. Click to enlarge. Ricardo released an analysis of two years of on-the-ground testing of the Ricardo-engineered Fuel-Efficient Ground Vehicle Demonstrator (FED) showing that, when compared to the US military’s regularly outfitted M1151 HMMWV (“Humvee”), the FED experienced a 72% improvement in fuel economy. (Earlier post.) The FED’s performance... Read more →

Bosch Software Innovations has developed an eMobility Starter Package offering out-of-the-box support for two of the leading open-interface protocols—OICP and OCPP—for connecting to roaming platforms and charging infrastructure systems. eRoaming is intended to extend electromobility beyond regional and system boundaries, and will enable drivers of an electric vehicle to recharge... Read more →

The UK’s first open-access Bio-LNG filling station, built by Gasrec, has opened. Gasrec’s new facility in Daventry will allow gas-powered or dual-fuel trucks to use Bio-LNG, and will operate in a similar way to a traditional filling station. Bio-LNG is Gasrec’s proprietary, blend of liquefied natural gas (LNG) and liquid... Read more →

Noble Energy, Inc. announced a natural gas discovery at the Karish prospect offshore Israel. The discovery well was drilled to a total depth of 15,783 feet (4,811 meters) and encountered 184 feet (56 meters) of net natural gas pay in high-quality lower Miocene sands. Discovered gross resources, combined with the... Read more →

Henkel Corporation’s automotive group introduced TECHNOMELT XPO 1050, a polyolefin-based hotmelt that can bond a wide variety of interior-related substrates without the need for pretreatment of the plastic surface. Used in the development of a number of interiors applications, including door panels, rear package trays, pillar trims and instrument panels,... Read more →

Buquebus and CTS Auto S.A., in partnership with Chinese automaker BYD Ltd, introduced the first battery-electric 12-meter rapid transit bus in Uruguay and the region. The BYD electric bus, powered by two in-wheel electric motors capable of a cruising speed of more than 88 km/h (55 mph) and a Li-ion... Read more →

CleanFUEL USA has partnered with the City of Springfield, Ill., to convert 24 police patrol cars and pickup trucks to clean burning propane autogas. We estimate our fuel savings in the first year alone to be more than $82,000. Transitioning our fleet to propane autogas was an extremely easy decision... Read more →

Total has approved a €1-billion (US$1.3-billion) modernization project for its Antwerp production facilities, Total’s largest European refining and petrochemical platform. Two major projects will be implemented in the near future: A new refinery upgrading complex, consisting of a solvent de-asphalting unit and a mild hydrocracking unit. Intended primarily to convert... Read more →

Spark EV. Click to enlarge. Chevrolet announced a low-mileage lease on the new 2014 Spark EV 1LT (earlier post) for as low as $199 per month for 36 months, with $999 due at lease signing including security deposit (tax, title, license dealer fees extra), making the vehicle one of the... Read more →

Flush with its recent $1.02 billion fundraising, Tesla Motors has paid off the entire loan awarded to the company by the US Department of Energy in 2010. In addition to payments made in 2012 and Q1 2013, today’s wire of almost half a billion dollars ($451.8M) repays the full loan... Read more →

In a project funded in part by the US Department of Energy (DOE), Novomer Inc. has completed the first successful large-scale production of a polypropylene carbonate (PPC) polymer using waste CO2 as a key raw material. By using CO2 that would otherwise be emitted to the atmosphere, the process has... Read more →

ECOtality, Inc. introduced Blink HQ, a new family of home electric vehicle (EV) charging products. Blink HQ includes a free membership to the Blink Network of 4,000+ publicly available charging stations and a $100 charging credit with purchase. Blink HQ. Click to enlarge. The Blink HQ suite of products is... Read more →

Adhesives, sealants and surface treatments company Henkel and KraussMaffei, one of the world’s leading makers of manufacturing and processing machinery for plastics, have collaborated to develop a new polyurethane matrix resin for the resin transfer molding process (RTM) that will speed up the production of composite components in the automotive... Read more →

ChargePoint and National Grid unveiled the first of more than 80 electric vehicle charging stations in New York, funded through a $1-million award from the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA). The ChargePoint EV charging station, which can charge two cars at once, has been installed at... Read more →

The Q1 2013 index (top) shows that the 7 top automotive nations have seen their competitive positions shift since 2012 (bottom). Source: Roland Berger. Click to enlarge. Despite maturing technology and better cost structures, worldwide production forecasts for electric vehicles (EVs) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHEVs) are in decline, posing... Read more →

Navitas Systems LLC, which earlier this year acquired substantially all of the assets of bankrupt A123 Systems’ former Ann Arbor, Michigan-based government business, including US military contracts, has signed a contract to supply prototypes of its upcoming 6T lithium-ion battery (earlier post) for use by CALSTART in assessing the efficacy... Read more →

A techno-economic analysis of renewable aviation fuels by Australian researchers has found that, based on currently available long-term reputable technological data, biorefineries producing biofuels from microalgae, oil seeds of the Pongamia tree, and sugarcane feedstocks would be competitive with crude oil prices at $1,343, $374, and $301/bbl, respectively. Sensitivity analyses... Read more →

The National Academies has issued a pre-publication version of an interim report on Overcoming Barriers to Electric-Vehicle Deployment. A final, comprehensive report will be published in late summer 2014. Given recognized technical, social, and economic barriers to widespread adoption of plug-in electric vehicles (plug-in hybrid and battery-electric vehicles), Congress had... Read more →

The Junior WRC Championship is supporting the FIA’s drive to make motorsport more sustainable by switching from gasoline to biofuel. From the Acropolis Rally of Greece onwards, the Ford Fiesta R2s used in the series will be powered by GEM Fuel, a ternary blend fuel containing regular gasoline, bio-ethanol and... Read more →

Findings from a study by a team at the University of Oklahoma suggest that the stability of diesel fuel—i.e., either the biodegradation of diesel hydrocarbons or, by inference, the degree of biocorrosion—is independent of the concentration of organosulfur species in the fuel. In other words, accelerated biocorrosion associated with the... Read more →

Amprius’ plan, outlined at the DOE Merit Review in 2012, is to start with consumer electronics and move to vehicle and grid storage markets. Source: DOE. Click to enlarge. Amprius Inc., a developer of lithium-ion batteries using silicon nanowire anodes (earlier post), has launched the first generation of its high-capacity... Read more →

Trade-off analysis map showing the available and least expensive water option for each site. Sites where water supply costs are <20% of biofuel value are colored according to the least expensive available source. Where freshwater was not available and alternative water cost was greater than 20% of biofuel value, the... Read more →

A new US Geological Survey study finds that US aquifers are being drawn down at an accelerating rate. Groundwater Depletion in the United States (1900-2008) comprehensively evaluates long-term cumulative depletion volumes in 40 separate aquifers (distinct underground water storage areas) in the United States, bringing together reliable information from previous... Read more →

State-owned IndianOil has successfully developed and commercialized a technology to co-process non-edible vegetable oil in the existing diesel hydrotreating (DHDT) units of a petroleum refinery. This marks the first time in India when Jatropha oil has been used for co-processing in a petroleum refinery. This technology was developed by the... Read more →

The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a proposed rulemaking for modifications to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS2) program. The proposal also includes various changes to the E15 misfueling mitigation regulations (E15 MMR), ultra low sulfur diesel survey requirements as well as other technical amendments. The proposed rules include... Read more →

Prototype of EEMBC’s automotive microcontroller efficiency benchmark includes test equipment from National Instruments connected to the Renesas V850E2/Fx4-L microcontroller. Click to enlarge. The Volkswagen Group will chair an expanded Embedded Microprocessor Benchmark Consortium (EEMBC) working group project to establish an energy-efficiency benchmark for microcontrollers aimed at making automotive end products... Read more →

Cabot Oil & Gas Corporation, in partnership with FTS International (FTSI) and Caterpillar Global Petroleum, is using Marcellus Shale natural gas to fracture wells via dual fuel technology. This marks the first time “field” gas has been used in northeastern Pennsylvania for this purpose. The process of using clean-burning natural... Read more →

Halliburton, one of the world’s largest providers of products and services to the energy industry, is deploying nearly 100 light-duty Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) trucks across several field locations in the US. The Ford bi-fuel trucks were recently purchased as part of a pilot program to be rolled out throughout... Read more →

Mitsubishi Motors Corporation will launch its next-generation global compact sedan, to be named Attrage, in the Thai market this July. Powered by a 1.2L MIVEC engine, the Attrage is projected to deliver fuel economy of 22 km/liter (51.8 mpg US, 4.5 L/100km) on the NEDC. Attrage. Click to enlarge. As... Read more →

Eos Energy Storage, a developer of zinc-air grid-scale battery technology, completed its $15-million Series B financing round with participation from a syndicate of 21 strategic and financial investors. Eos has developed Znyth, a zinc hybrid cathode battery technology. According to Eos, Znyth has demonstrated more than 5,000 cycles to date... Read more →

PowerCell, a Swedish energy technology company with roots in the Volvo Group, unveiled a functioning full-scale prototype of its PowerPac fuel cell system, which combines an autothermal reformer and a PEM fuel cell stack to convert diesel fuel into electricity. (Earlier post.) The main target groups for PowerPac are truck... Read more →

The first battery-electric transit buses in Northern California were put into service today by the San Joaquin Regional Transit District (RTD). The Proterra EcoRide BE35 buses will operate on a rapid charging system and will have all of the functionality of a conventional transit bus. The California Energy Commission (CEC)... Read more →

Both fine-particle air pollution and noise pollution may increase a person’s risk of developing cardiovascular disease, according to German researchers who have conducted a large population study, in which both factors were considered simultaneously. The research was presented today at the ATS (American Thoracic Society) 2013 conference in Philadelphia. Many... Read more →

Titanium Corporation Inc. has been awarded the final of the three core Canadian patents on its oil sands tailings technology. (Earlier post.) The latest, Canadian Patent Nº 2662346 (Moran et al) is for a novel process that recovers bitumen from froth treatment tailings. Titanium has also received the final results... Read more →