D-EGR gasoline demo vehicle delivers diesel efficiency

The full title is:

source: Green Car Congress: SwRI D-EGR gasoline demo vehicle delivers diesel efficiency at lower cost; potential for LEV III/Tier 3 emissions

It is clever but what a pumber's nightmare. The clever part is burning an over-rich mixture in one cylinder to generate an exhaust gas rich in partially combusted gasoline that is rich H{2} and CO, excellent fuels that are otherwise hard to generate. Their higher mechanical advantage occurs from both a turbo charger, roots super charger, and plumbing to capture the partially burned, fuel gasses, and feed them back into the other cylinders. But it is similar to a slightly different 'brain fart' I've had.

I've long felt the waste heat in the exhaust should heat a coal or charcoal mix that is exposed to a mix of steam and air to generate what is called 'manufacture gas.' Rich in the same H{2} and CO, the resulting gasses would once cooled, be a great feed into the air intake of the engine. There it would combust with a much smaller portion of gasoline to run the engine. But I had never considered the benefits of H{2} in supporting a lean, engine burn.

One aspect of H{2} is it has the widest range of air-to-fuel mixtures that can still burn. It is one of the reasons it is such wicked stuff. But if the H{2} is created in situ from more benign sources, it makes a lot more sense.

This is "demo" and not a practical solution . . . it has way too many moving, mechanical parts. Still, burning a rich mixture in one cylinder and generating some mechanical power from that over-rich combustion is clever. But at this time, I have a hard time seeing this as a near-term, practical solution.

Bob Wilson