By the middle of this decade, some cars and trucks may carry their own oil refinery as standard equipment. Although the miniature distillery won t realize science fiction s dream of converting garbage into gasoline, it may provide a way to significantly reduce the hydrocarbon emissions in exhaust from internal combustion engines.
Gasoline is a mixture of liquid hydrocarbons that have a variety of boiling points.
Only the most volatile components of gasoline vaporize and burn when a cold engine first turns over, says Ronald D. Matthews, a mechanical engineer at the University of Texas in Austin and a codeveloper of the new system. The researchers new system could eliminate almost half of these emissions, he estimates. The system condenses them and routes them into a small tank under the hood. Over the next few minutes, the fuel system shifts to pull gasoline from the main fuel tank. This technique provides the benefits of using two fuels without the hassle of filling two tanks at the gas pump, Matthews notes.