Emission Performance of Selected Biodiesel Fuels: This project, carried out for USDOE and the International Energy Agency, involves considerable experimental work on the premises of the Advance Propulsion Technology Center at ORNL, and is coordinated with project partners in Finland. Several bio-fuels and bio-fuel blends are being evaluated in both light-duty and medium-duty diesel engines. The performance of the engines is evaluated with respect to power output and fuel consumption. Regulated emissions, both gaseous and particulate matter, as well as unregulated emissions are measured over the operating range of both engines.

Advanced Lightweight Power Generation: This project, being carried out for the Department of the Army, involves considerable experimental work on the premises of both the Advance Propulsion Technology Center, and the University of Tennessee. The primary activity at UTK is evaluation of the candidate diesel engines for the next generation (2005 - 2007 procurement) of three families of portable generator sets. With the advances in power electronics, variable speed operation is possible for the portable generators used by the U.S. military, which are currently all constant-speed operation. Also, advances in electronic engine management for diesel engines provides more efficient operation with variable-speed.

Measurement of Particulates in Engine Exhaust: This project involves development of a "micro" dilution device that allows changing the residence time and dilution ratio of the particles in engine exhaust. ORNL employs various devices for particulate matter evaluation- Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer, Tapered Element Oscillating Microbalance, Laser Scatterometer, and others. Using some of these devices, the dilution device can be evaluated with known monodisperse aerosols for artifacts such as thermophoretic loss of the small particles to the walls and discrimination by the inlet orifice.

Light-duty Vehicle Testing: This project involves testing of light-duty diesel- and gasoline-fueled passenger cars. Various vehicles, fuel formulations, and exhaust emissions aftertreatment devices and controls is being evaluated using the chassis dynamometer. Their effects on vehicle performance and driveability as well as emissions is being determined.