As you drive down the highway, you may notice an increasing number of hybrid and electric vehicles. Alternative energy automobiles are on the rise contributing to the global effort to reduce carbon emissions. As we move together down this road, researchers are looking to determine new solutions to this ongoing problem. Dr. Muzammil Arshad, instructional assistant professor for the Department of Multidisciplinary Engineering at Texas A&M University, and a team of multidisciplinary student researchers conducted a study to analyze the performance of hydrogen-enriched fuel on spark engine performance and efficiency. This solution could make significant contributions to helping automobiles become more environmentally friendly. "Due to climate change as well as a focus on reduced emissions and deprivation of fossil fuel reserves, there has been immense research to reduce emissions," said Arshad. "This has led to investigating effects of dual fuels on the emissions as well as engine performance parameters because we don't want to lose the combustion characteristics by injecting a secondary fuel." Two multidisciplinary students, Jonathan Rodriguez and Miriam Alanis, contributed significantly and are co-authors of the research. As undergraduate students at the Higher Education Center at McAllen (HECM), this accomplishment is an impactful stepping stone. "I think presenting at the conference was wonderful," said Alanis. "From the study, we were able to produce tangible results that could potentially be meaningful and useful." This study was also recently published in the Petroleum and Chemical Industry International journal. "These accolades establish our research and give it credibility," said Rodriguez. "We are making progress at the HECM. I believe we are part of the first student research project conducted on campus. As an undergraduate, I didn't believe it was an experience I would achieve until Dr. Arshad developed the... |