In only 18 months, the center conceived the idea, completed the design and made the prototype pickup vehicle, which demonstrated the concept will work. The results show that the truck is capable of capturing an average of 10 percent of carbon dioxide emissions.
“I commend the (center’s) efforts,” said Khalid A. Al-Falih, president and CEO, during a recent demonstration of the truck. “(It is a) learning experience.”
The technology reduces emissions by separating and storing carbon dioxide from the exhaust stream while avoiding impacting the engine design or performance. It is powered using heat that is normally wasted, said project leader Esam Z. Al-Hamad.
The goal is to have cars outfitted with this technology to unload the carbon dioxide while refueling. Saudi Aramco and other research centers are conducting studies on ways to benefit from the stored carbon dioxide.
“The current size of the technology fits a truck because the research team intentionally overdesigned and sized the different components and added extra equipment for testing purposes using off-the-shelf parts,” said senior lab scientist Wajdi E. Sadat. The research team is working to refine the design, reducing the size of the system to fit on a passenger car, he added.
This first-of-a-kind prototype positions the center as a leader in carbon dioxide capture from mobile sources. Five provisional patents were submitted by the team based on the knowledge gained during research for the project.
A preliminary competitiveness study by a respected consulting group, on the technology commissioned by center, shows that a 70 percent reduction in the emitted carbon dioxide from spark ignition engines would far outstrip most available emissions reduction technologies.
Currently, the only technology that would allow for the achievement of such emissions targets would be vehicle electrification, which is expensive, both in the cost of the technology, and in the expense of developing the appropriate manufacturing and recharging infrastructure.
Saudi Aramco Research and Development Center is developing a technology that that operates on existing compression and spark ignition engines, which will make it a competitive alternative.
