A Marquette University faculty member has been named the recipient of a $4.2 million Department of Energy Grant. Adam Dempsey, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering in the Opus College of Engineering, will use the funding to further research technology to be used in lean-burn natural gas engines. These engines could reduce methane slip by 90% from current levels, according to a press release from Marquette.
“Methane is a potent greenhouse gas and has been shown to have a global warming potential of about 25-80 times that of carbon dioxide,” Dempsey said. “Our aim is to develop a system to achieve a non-premixed, mixing controlled combustion process with natural gas in a lean-burn engine, avoiding the primary sources of methane slip that come with premixing the fuel and intake air. This has the potential to reduce methane slip to 0.25% of the inlet fuel stream, which represents a 90% reduction.”
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