Rail transportation ranks second in creating nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions due to the use of older locomotives to move heavy cargo, according to a California Air Resources Board study of port areas and sources of emissions. Argonne’s approach of adding water to ethanol to create hydrous ethanol should reduce NOx emissions. Leaving water in the ethanol should reduce the energy required to make it and substituting ethanol for diesel fuel should reduce both cost and life cycle GHG emissions.
