Automotive Engines Will Develop Energy Saving and Emission Reduction

At the beginning of this year, the continuous haze weather caused intense concern from all walks of life. In the multiple factors that cause haze weather, automobile exhaust is one of the main factors, and it is urgent to accelerate energy conservation and emission reduction of automobiles. Following the decision of the State Council Executive Meeting on February 6th to accelerate the upgrading of oil products, the General Office of the State Council recently issued the Opinions on Improving the Energy-saving and Emission Reduction of the Internal Combustion Engine Industry (hereinafter referred to as “Opinions”). Passenger car engines are the focus of attention in the Opinions, and their R&D, application and industrialization of new energy-saving and emission reduction technologies will be accelerated.

Pressurization, direct injection technology will become the mainstream

The reporter noticed that this opinion puts forward clear requirements for passenger car engines. Among them, in the aspect of gasoline engines, the focus is on the application of booster direct injection technology, mastering core technologies such as combustion and electronic control, and development of direct injection fuel systems and superchargers. Other critical components, such as 2.0 liters or less, and especially 1.6 liters or less, are encouraged to use supercharged and direct injection technology for small-displacement gasoline engines. Coincidentally, recently, the American authoritative car magazine "Ward's AutoWorld" announced the results of the 2013 top ten engine selection, and turbocharged technology engines exceeded half. A number of industry experts said that direct injection and supercharger technology has become the mainstream of the future market, and the general gasoline engine will gradually withdraw from this stage.

"For a 1.8T turbocharged engine, after boosting, the power can reach the 2.4L engine level, but the fuel consumption is equivalent to a 1.8L engine, which improves fuel economy and reduces exhaust emissions." Zhao Jinkai, director of a car repair service center in Tianjin and expert in the automotive field, told reporters that the maximum power output of an engine equipped with a turbocharger can be increased by approximately 40% or more compared to that without a turbocharger. .

Compared with the general engine with the same displacement, the direct injection engine's power and torque have increased by 10%.

Pressurization and direct injection technology is good, but the cost is high. Taking the direct-injection fuel supply system as an example, in addition to the fact that it has to spend more in the development process, due to its complex composition and high precision requirements, the price of components is much more expensive than the traditional oil supply system. Current engines with in-cylinder direct injection technology are only used in high-end cars such as Volkswagen, Audi, BMW, Mercedes-Benz, General Motors, and Toyota Lexus.

The "opinions" proposed that on the basis of policies such as energy-saving subsidies for passenger vehicles and financial subsidies for agricultural machinery industries, research and development of financial support policies for the promotion of energy-saving and environment-friendly commercial vehicles will promote the development of highly efficient internal combustion engines. With the implementation of such policies, booster and direct injection technology will become the mainstream of passenger car engines.

Alternative fuel accelerates to the front

"Using alternative fuels to save 15 million tons of commercial fuel oil" is another vision put forward by the "Opinions". In addition to gasoline, diesel, the car can also "drink" what? From the research results of the industry, gas fuels such as natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas, dimethyl ether, and liquid fuels such as methanol, ethanol, and biodiesel are all ideal alternative fuels.

Seeking new fuel alternatives seems to have become a more “final cure” for energy-saving and emission reduction than upgrading and transforming components. Taking natural gas as an example, its main component is methane, and it produces virtually no pollution during use. At the same time, compared to the use of refined oil, it can also reduce 98% of nitrogen dioxide and 30% of carbon dioxide emissions; another promising alternative fuel Dimethyl ether also reduces nitrogen oxide emissions by about 20% compared to diesel oil. Among the alternative fuels, natural gas is the best in the industry due to its outstanding price advantage. Zhuo Chuang, an information analyst at Zhuo Chuang, pointed out that with the upgrading of oil products, the economics of LNG will become more apparent.

According to reports, the "Opinions" issued this time include the "research and development of alternative fuel internal combustion engine products" in the development of key areas and tasks, and propose that the encouragement of alternative fuel engines and existing engine manufacturing systems are compatible; actively develop diesel / natural gas dual-fuel internal combustion engine , Biodiesel internal combustion engine; Carry out gasoline/methanol dual-fuel ignition internal combustion engine, diesel/methanol dual fuel compression ignition internal combustion engine application pilot work. At the same time, it will also study and formulate relevant technical standards to regulate the development of alternative fuel internal combustion engines.

According to the Opinions, by 2015, through the promotion and application of natural gas single fuel, dual fuel and biodiesel internal combustion engines, 10 million tons of alternative fuel oil will be realized; through the promotion and application of methanol fuel internal combustion engines, 5 million tons of alternative fuel oil will be realized.

However, the above figures, compared to the apparent consumption of 250 million tons of refined oil in 2012, the size of alternative fuels is still small. In the opinion of experts, alternative fuels will not become "mainstream" in the short term. Except natural gas, most of the alternative fuels do not have sufficient advantages in terms of economy, and they need to continue to improve production processes and reduce costs.