Advanced Locomotive Exhaust Gas Simulator to Fine-Tune Energy Recovery and Conversion Systems

TRB's Transit Ideas Deserving Exploratory Analysis (IDEA) Program has released Project 81: Advanced Locomotive Exhaust Gas Simulator to Fine-Tune Energy Recovery and Conversion Systems explores the development of a Waste Heat Recovery Systems (WHRS) to recover and convert otherwise wasted thermal energy represented by locomotive exhaust gases and cooling fluids. WHRS optimized for non-invasive locomotive retrofitting may reduce locomotive operating cost and support compliance of emission standards applied to old and recently-manufactured locomotives

This project expands upon findings reported in Transit Project 67: Diesel-Electric Locomotive Energy Recovery and Conversion that explores efforts to optimize Waste Heat Recovery (WHR) technologies for minimally invasive retrofitting of large internal combustion engines equipping locomotives. WHR technologies aim at recovering at least a portion of the high-grade wasted thermal energy and converting it to useful power, which results in lower fuel consumption and pollutant emissions.