Reducing Effective Vehicle Emissions Through the Integration of a Carbon Capture and Sequestration System in the CSU EcoCAR Vehicle

As the rigor of vehicle pollution regulations increase there is an increasing need to come up with unique and innovative ways of reducing the effective emissions of all vehicles. In this paper, we will describe our development of a carbon capture and sequestration system that can be used in-tandem with existing exhaust treatment used in convention vehicles or be used as a full replacement. This system is based on work done by researchers from NASA who were developing a next generation life support system and has been adapted here for use in a convention vehicle with minimal changes to the existing architecture. A prototype of this system was constructed and data will be presented showing the changes observed in the effective vehicle emissions to the atmosphere. This system has the potential to extract a significant portion of tailpipe emissions and convert them into a form that allows for safe, clean disposal without causing any harm to the environment. This paper will present a conceptual description of the system as applied to a conventional gasoline vehicle, will discuss the sizing, lifecycle assessment, and mass balance of the reaction, and will present preliminary results of a bench-top, lab scale carbon capture system for vehicles.