As CV19 continues to cause international disruption to health & economies, Governments & Policy makers are taking stock of how anthropogenic climate change has been responsible for the development, transmission & spread of the pandemic.
Dolphin N2 have explored previously how international human movement has been contributory to the depletion of the ozone layer, the melting of the polar ice caps & more importantly, the international movement of exotic animals. SARS-COV-2 having been linked to a virus carried by a bat to pig to human & most likely stemming from a live market in Wuhan, China; is a key indicator in the pandemics starting point & subsequent transmission to the human population.
One of the most notable changes to the data regarding GHG’s however, was the dramatic reductions seen globally as nations across the globe entered differing states of national lockdowns.
Analysis showed that in the first month of 2020 with the extension of the annual Chinese New Year shut down’s because of the virus outbreak, China’s country wide CO2 emissions had already dropped by a quarter. It was reported on 09.03.2020 that ‘China emitted 600 million tons of CO2 in the previous four weeks — about 200 million tons less than expected’ (1)
Aviation activity also dramatically reduced the carbon emissions in China. With a reduction of 50% – 90% mainland flights & a 60%-70% reduction in domestic flights over an extended two week period; ‘these flights were responsible for 17% of total CO2 emissions from passenger aviation in 2018, implying that that the on-going flight suspensions and cancellations have cut global CO2 emissions from passenger flights by around 11% (3Mt) in the previous two weeks’(2)
However, historical evidence also proves that GHG emissions can be reduced by changes in human behaviours, but all too quickly revert back to climbing emissions levels, once human behaviours return to ‘normal’.
Some examples of this were during the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918, the oil crisis in the 1970’s & the financial crash of 2008. Global emissions fell due to lack of movement, manufacturing & industrialisation. However, once these issues were addressed & countries returned to everyday life, the emissions levels rose sharply, as countries tried to recover from these decimating events.
Therefore, looking at these examples of how restricting human movement & changes to transportation can & do make reductions in GHG emissions & improve air quality, how can new & innovative heavy duty technologies find ways to continually drive down GHG’s & improve air quality?
Dolphin N2 – CryoPower Technology
The Dolphin N2 split-cycle CryoPower heavy duty engine, is just the kind of ‘science’ which can transform haulage & marine & other industrial applications & in doing so, be contributory to reducing GHG’s & improving air quality.
‘CryoPower and ThermoPower are recuperated split cycle engines. The revolutionary step is to separate the “cold” and “hot” parts of the traditional internal combustion engine so that each can be separately insulated.
The cold compression cylinder delivers air to the hot combustion cylinder via a heat exchanger or ” recuperator ” which transfers energy from the hot cylinder exhaust, considered waste in a conventional engine, to the intake air.
Further efficiency improvement can be achieved with the CryoPower version by injecting a small amount of liquid nitrogen in the cold cylinder which means that compression is done isothermally.
The split cycle technologies developed by Dolphin N2 redefine the process of fuel combustion to the extent that it has been described by leading academics as a lower temperature oxidation process akin to that in a fuel cell rather than a combustion process that occurs at higher temperatures.
The result is that the negative by products of combustion: – NOx and particulates are avoided at source meaning that this system can achieve at least the California Air Resources Board SULEV level using known “SCR” (Urea-based) after-treatment.
The combustion process is compatible with current liquid fuels meaning it can use the current fuel infrastructure but is also compatible for future synthetic fuels, liquid or gaseous derived from carbon capture and ‘wrong time’ renewable energy’ (3)
As Professor Morgan of the University of Brighton stated at the APC ‘How low can you go?’ conference 2019 “We can solve the toxic emissions with combustion engines! If you take control of the chemistry, you can take control of the emissions” (4)
Dolphin N2 having spun out from Ricardo with FPT Industrial, the global powertrain brand of CNH Industrial just before Christmas 2019, have been enabled to make considerable progress in the development of their game changing technology throughout 2020. Despite the CV19 pandemic, the Dolphin N2 team have continued to work safely & remotely, continuing to bring this GHG reducing & air quality improving technology to market.
Written by Katy-Jane Mason for & on behalf of Dolphin N2.
- https://thehill.com/changing-america/sustainability/climate-change/486085-coronavirus-has-slashed-chinas-co2-emissions
- https://www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-coronavirus-has-temporarily-reduced-chinas-co2-emissions-by-a-quarter
- https://dolphin-n2.com/
- APC ‘How low can you go?’ https://twitter.com/theapcuk/status/1113439705494953984
