Systems, methods, and apparatuses related to vehicles with reduced emissions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9494064-B2
Application number	US-201313957118-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 1, 2013
Priority date	Aug 1, 2013
Publication date	Nov 15, 2016
Grant date	Nov 15, 2016

Abstract

This disclosure relates generally to vehicles with reduced emissions. More particularly, this disclosure relates to systems, methods, and apparatuses related to vehicles with reduced carbon dioxide emissions. The carbon dioxide emissions may be stored in a carbon dioxide clathrate.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vehicle with reduced emissions, the vehicle comprising:
a clathrate storage vessel configured to store gas clathrates within a clathrate stability range;
an engine operably connected to the clathrate storage vessel and configured to receive discharged at least one gas from the clathrate storage vessel;
an exhaust delivery system operably connected to the engine and configured to introduce carbon dioxide from an exhaust stream from the engine into the clathrate storage vessel at a temperature and a pressure within the clathrate stability range; and
wherein the clathrate storage vessel is configured to exchange carbon dioxide for the at least one gas within the gas clathrates without melting a majority of any host material of the gas clathrates, wherein gas clathrates are converted to carbon dioxide clathrates and the at least one gas is released, and wherein the clathrate storage vessel is configured to discharge the at least one gas and store carbon dioxide clathrates.

2. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the clathrate storage vessel is configured to control the rate of exchange of carbon dioxide for the at least one gas by regulating at least one of the temperature and the pressure of the clathrate storage vessel.

3. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the clathrate storage vessel is configured to receive the at least one gas and a host material and form the gas clathrates within the clathrate storage vessel.

4. The vehicle of claim 3 , wherein the clathrate storage vessel comprises high-surface-area materials configured for forming gas clathrates on the surface of the materials, wherein the high-surface area materials comprise graphene, activated carbon, a metal organic framework, or combinations thereof.

5. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the clathrate storage vessel is configured to be detachable and reattachable from the remainder of the vehicle.

6. The vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising a refrigeration system configured to maintain an internal temperature of the clathrate storage vessel within the clathrate stability range, wherein the clathrate stability range comprises 0° C. to 25° C.

7. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the clathrate storage vessel is designed to maintain an internal pressure of about 1 bar to about 30 bar to maintain gas clathrates and carbon dioxide clathrates within the clathrate stability range.

8. The vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising an electric, hydraulic, or mechanical control system, or combination thereof, configured to monitor both pressure and temperature of the clathrate storage vessel and to regulate at least one of pressure and temperature in order to maintain the gas clathrate and the carbon dioxide clathrate within the clathrate stability range.

9. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the clathrate storage vessel further comprises a heating system configured and located to impart heat energy to the clathrate storage vessel.

10. The vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising a gas storage vessel configured to store the at least one gas removed from the clathrate storage vessel, wherein the gas storage vessel is operably connected to the clathrate storage vessel and is operably connected to the engine.

11. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein a majority of all of the carbon dioxide in the exhaust stream is exchanged for the at least one gas, whereby the majority of all of the carbon dioxide is captured in carbon dioxide clathrates.

12. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the exhaust stream further comprises nitrogen and wherein the clathrate storage vessel is also configured to exchange nitrogen for at least one gas within the gas clathrates without melting a majority of any host material of the gas clathrates, wherein gas clathrates are converted to nitrogen clathrates and the at least one gas is released.

13. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the exhaust delivery system comprises a cooling system configured to cool the exhaust stream.

14. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the exhaust delivery system comprises a pressurization system.

15. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the exhaust stream including the carbon dioxide is introduced to the clathrate storage vessel with the carbon dioxide present in the exhaust stream.

16. The vehicle of claim 1 , further comprising a carbon dioxide removal system configured to separate carbon dioxide from the exhaust stream and deliver the removed carbon dioxide to the clathrate storage vessel.

17. The vehicle of claim 1 , wherein the clathrate storage vessel is configured for removal of stored carbon dioxide from the vehicle when the vehicle is otherwise not in use.

18. A vehicle with reduced emissions, the vehicle comprising:
a fuel storage vessel configured to store gas clathrates;
an exchange vessel operably connected to the fuel storage vessel and configured to receive the gas clathrates, wherein the exchange vessel is configured to maintain the gas clathrates within a clathrate stability range and is configured to exchange carbon dioxide for at least one gas within the gas clathrates forming carbon dioxide clathrates, wherein the exchange vessel is configured to discharge the at least one gas and carbon dioxide clathrates, wherein the exchange vessel is configured to exchange carbon dioxide for the at least one gas within the gas clathrates without melting a majority of any host material of the gas clathrates, wherein gas clathrates are converted to carbon dioxide clathrates and the at least one gas is released;
an engine operably connected to the exchange vessel and configured to receive discharged gas from the exchange vessel;
an exhaust delivery system operably connected to the engine and configured to introduce carbon dioxide from an exhaust stream from the engine into the exchange vessel at a temperature and a pressure within the clathrate stability range; and
an exhaust storage vessel configured to receive the carbon dioxide clathrates from the exchange vessel.

19. The vehicle of claim 18 , wherein the exhaust storage vessel is configured to store the carbon dioxide clathrates.

20. The vehicle of claim 18 , wherein the carbon dioxide is removed from the exhaust stream prior to introduction of the carbon dioxide to the exchange vessel.

21. The vehicle of claim 18 , wherein the exhaust stream including the carbon dioxide is introduced to the exchange vessel with the carbon dioxide present in the exhaust stream.

22. The vehicle of claim 18 , wherein the exchange vessel is configured to control the rate of exchange of the carbon dioxide for the at least one gas by regulating at least one of the temperature and the pressure within the exchange vessel.

23. The vehicle of claim 18 , further comprising a control system configured to monitor both pressure and temperature of the fuel storage vessel and to regulate at least one of pressure and temperature in order to maintain the gas clathrate within the clathrate stability range.

24. The vehicle of claim 18 , wherein a pressure and/or a temperature of the fuel storage vessel is different from that of the exchange vessel.

25. The vehicle of claim 18 , wherein the vehicle further comprises a transport device operably connected to the fuel storage vessel and operably connected to the exchange vessel and configured to transfer gas clathrates from the fuel storage vessel to the exchange vessel.

26. The vehicle of claim 18 , further comprising an electric, hyd

Assignees

• Elwha Llc
• Elwha Llc

Inventors

• Hyde Roderick A
• Wood Jr Lowell L

Classifications

• B01D2257/502

  Carbon monoxide · CPC title

• B01D53/22

  by diffusion (manufacturing semi-permeable membranes B01D67/00; form, structure or properties of semi-permeable membranes B01D69/00; material for semi-permeable membranes B01D71/00) · CPC title

• B01D2253/108

  Zeolites · CPC title

• Y02C10/04

  Cross-Sectional Technologies · mapped topic

• B01D2251/304

  of sodium · CPC title