Automotive industry, operating efficiencies

An oil burner or gas condensing boiler which does not operate at its optimum setting will not only decrease in efficiency, but the concentration of CO, HC and the content of soot in the exhaust gas will also increase. A measure for the quality of combustion is the well-known (in the automotive industry) lambda- (2-) value (see also chapter 53.2.4). 

Recent emission control system development in the automotive industry has been directed mainly towards the use of three-way or dual bed catalytic converters, This type of converter system not only oxidizes the hydrocarbons (HC) and carbon monoxide (CO) in the exhaust gas but will also reduce the nitrous oxides (NO ). An integral part of this type of system is the exhaust oxygen sensor which is used to provide feedback for closed loop control of the air-fuel ratio. This is necessary since this type of catalytic converter system operates efficiently only when the composition of the exhaust gas is very near the stoichiometric point. 

There are, however, some distinctive differences between the environmental and the other aspects of catalysis. Fust, the feed and operation conditions of environmental catalysts cannot be changed in order to increase conversion or selectivity, as commonly done for chemical production catalysts. Second, environmental catalysis has a role to play not only in industrial processes, but also in emission control (auto, ship, and flight emissions), and even in our daily life (water purifiers). Consequently, the concept of environmental catalysis is vital for a sustainable future. Last but not least, environmental catalysts often operate in more extreme conditions than catalysts in chemical production. There are also cases, such as automotive vehicles, where they have to operate efficiently for a continuously varying feed flow rate and composition. 

Fleet operators and large scale industrial users of batteries are in a better position than the general consumer communities to collect discarded batteries. Because of the organizational structure of the former group, the establishment of collection systems within their existing organizations is relatively easy. The more difficult problem lies in the domain of domestic users, particularly the problem of the retrieval of batteries other than lead-acid batteries. The retrieval of spent automotive lead-acid batteries from domestic users, by far the most significant fraction of lead acid batteries, is relatively efficient because these batteries are sold on a trade-in basis in most cases. However, most consumer batteries are not sold in this manner. 

Transportation. Transportation is perhaps the single greatest expenditure of human effort, and it has produced the modern automotive, air, and railway transportation industries. Applied physics in these areas focuses on the development of more effective and efficient means of controlling the movement of the machine while enhancing the safety of human and nonhuman occupants. While the physical principles by which the various forms of the internal combustion engine function are the same now as when the devices were first invented, the physical processes used in their operation have undergone a great deal of mechanical refinement. 

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