Category: Multi-Slide Guides

The Digest’s Multi-Slide Guide to Renewable Methanol-fueled Engines for Marine and Off-road Applications

September 9, 2025 | Jim Lane

A four-year CRADA (FY23-26) with $2.0M DOE and $2.04M Caterpillar in-kind funding, this project is 35% complete, focusing on methanol as a promising decarbonization fuel for hard-to-electrify applications. Three combustion strategies are investigated, including port fuel injection and prechamber spark ignition. Maersk’s commitment to 730,000 tons of green methanol annually highlights the market. Accomplishments include […]

The Digest’s Multi-Slide Guide to Predictive CFD Tools for Low-Carbon Fueled Off-Road IC Engines

September 8, 2025 | Jim Lane

This project, 15% complete as of March 2024, is developing predictive CFD tools for hydrogen and methanol-fueled off-road engines. With $600k DOE funding and $450k industry cost-share in FY24, it aims to address limited understanding of low-carbon fuel impact. Key accomplishments include identifying hydrogen mixing model deficiencies, assessing combustion model shortcomings, and completing DNS setups, […]

The Digest’s 2025 Multi-Slide Guide to Implementing Low Lifecycle Carbon Fuels on Locomotives

September 7, 2025 | Jim Lane

This CRADA project with Wabtec and ORNL focuses on implementing low lifecycle carbon fuels, particularly hydrogen, in locomotive engines. A new research facility at ORNL’s NTRC is being established, featuring a Wabtec single-cylinder engine and extensive infrastructure upgrades for electrical, air, fuel, oil, and coolant systems. Hydrogen storage and delivery systems are designed. The approach […]

The Digest’s 2025 Multi-Slide Guide to Hydrogen Combustion for Locomotive Engines via CFD

September 4, 2025 | Jim Lane

This project develops and validates advanced CFD tools for hydrogen combustion in large-bore locomotive engines, aiming for up to 100% H2 operation. Simulations evaluated hydrogen substitution rates, diesel injection parameters, and compression ratios on combustion performance. Key findings showed a shift from mixing-controlled to flame propagation combustion with increasing H2, identifying conditions leading to high […]

The Digest’s 2025 Multi-Slide Guide to Off-Road Decarbonized Fuel Transient Performance

September 3, 2025 | Jim Lane

This project evaluates the transient performance of Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engines (H2-ICEs) for off-road vehicle decarbonization. Utilizing an Engine-in-Loop (EIL) facility, the team demonstrated closed-loop tractor duty cycles with a Navistar diesel engine, developing and validating agricultural tractor models. Infrastructure for H2 fueling is complete. Key findings include presented fuel consumption and NOx emissions for […]

The Digest’s 2025 Multi-Slide Guide to Slashing PGM in Catalytic Converters

September 2, 2025 | Jim Lane

This “atoms-to-autos” project aims to reduce Platinum Group Metal (PGM) use in catalytic converters by 50%. It focuses on developing catalysts with single-atoms or small ensembles of palladium and rhodium, alongside engineered support materials for enhanced aging resistance. The project achieved 60% PGM thrifting at the core sample level with equivalent performance and identified optimal […]

The Digest’s 2025 Multi-Slide Guide to Low Lifecycle Carbon Fuel Combustion Models

September 1, 2025 | Jim Lane

This project develops predictive combustion and emission models for low lifecycle carbon fuels (LLCFs) across hard-to-decarbonize sectors. Key advancements include improved kinetic models for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) components like cyclohexane and methylcyclohexane, and a novel Jet-A surrogate. The team also enhanced the Zero-RK software for faster chemical kinetics solutions and released GPS-Z for efficient […]

The Digest’s 2025 Multi-Slide Guide to Biogas Systems Developments and Flexibility

August 31, 2025 | Jim Lane

Biogas systems are proven, customizable net-zero technologies, feeding biomethane into existing gas infrastructure and treating diverse wet organic wastes. They offer high operational flexibility, integrating electrical and natural gas grids, and are generally cheaper than green hydrogen. Achieving flexibility involves increased CHP/gas storage capacity and production control, incurring higher costs balanced by benefits. Crucially, renewable […]

The Digest’s 2025 Multi-Slide Guide to Green Gas Production Targets and Challenges

August 28, 2025 | Jim Lane

EU directives target 35 bcm renewable gas by 2030, with the Netherlands aiming for 1.1 bcm Green Gas, 0.55 bcm via gasification. This necessitates building approximately 14 (30 MWth) plants in NL and 175 across Europe by 2030. Implementation faces challenges like higher costs, insufficient long-term subsidies, and diverging policies favoring manure digestion. Future integration […]

The Digest’s 2025 Multi-Slide Guide to Bioenergy Integration in Renewable Energy Systems

August 27, 2025 | Jim Lane

Integrating bioenergy is essential for flexible renewable energy systems, addressing increasing demands for short- and long-term flexibility, electrification support, and carbon management. Flexible bioenergy helps resolve intraday and seasonal electricity mismatches by producing storable fuels like methane or LNG. It also valorizes hydrogen, supports defossilization by creating fuels and chemicals, and enables negative emissions via […]

Free Subscription

The Biofuels Digest newsletter

The most widely-read biofuels daily — 20,000+ organizations subscribe — why not you too?