Int. J. of Thermal & Environmental Engineering Volume 16, No. 1 (2018) 51-58 * Adriana Vargas-Martínez. Tel.: +5218119173592 E-mail: adriana.vargas@udem.edu © 2018 International Association for Sharing Knowledge and Sustainability DOI: 10.5383/ijtee.16.01.007 51 Study of an Electric Energy Generation System from Exhaust Waste Recovery from an Internal Combustion Engine Jorge de-J. Lozoya-Santos, Jonathan Rivas Torres, Adán Sáenz Herrera, Julio C. Salinas-Maldonado, Eduardo Mariscal Hay, Adriana Vargas-Martínez * Universidad de Monterrey, San Pedro Garza García, México Abstract A conventional car engine uses at best about one-third of the fuel combustion energy, while the rest of the energy is lost in friction and most in heat. In the face of the new emission regulations proposed by the government due to the high levels of pollution, and with the aim of achieving cleaner and more efficient transportation, vehicle exhaust gas recovery is being researched in the last years. It is of interest for the automotive industry to recover this wasted energy, thus increasing engine efficiency, reducing fuel consumption and pollution. One way to achieve both objectives is the conversion of engine waste heat to a more useful form of energy, either mechanical or electrical. This paper study a system prototype based on Brayton´s thermodynamic cycle driving an Electrical Generator to recover energy from the exhaust gases from a commercial internal combustion engine. Keywords: Exhaust Gas Recovery, Turbocharging, Brayton Cycle Efficiency. 1. Introduction In recent years, OEM’s have been put to a big challenge to further reduce the CO2 emission from vehicles [1]. Along with hybridization, improving efficiency and lowering fuel consumption from vehicles equipped with internal combustion engine (ICE) is the main way to achieve it. Since the early beginnings of ICE, constructors have been aware that a big portion of energy is wasted by throwing high enthalpy exhaust gases to atmosphere [2], from a small percentage that could be mostly useful to be used to improve powertrain efficiency. In a typical energy flow path of an internal combustion engine, only 25% of the fuel combustion is utilized for vehicle operation, whereas about 70% of the total fuel energy dissipates to the environment as heat loss primarily through the vehicle exhaust system and radiator [3]. Heat available in the exhaust gas of an engine can be an important heat source [4]. 2. Background 2.1. Waste Heat Recovery Many researchers recognize that Waste Heat Recovery from engine exhaust has the potential to decrease fuel consumption without increasing emissions, and recent technological advancements have made these systems viable and cost effective [5], [6]. A waste heat recovery system has the potential to convert some of this waste heat into electricity and consequently reduce the fuel consumption of the car by driving the alternator with exhaust gas energy, instead of doing it with the mechanical output of the engine [7]. Given the importance of increasing energy conversion efficiency for reducing both the fuel consumption and emissions of engine, scientists and engineers have done lots of successful research aimed to improve engine thermal efficiency, including supercharge, lean mixture combustion, etc. However, in all the energy saving technologies studied, engine exhaust heat recovery is one of the most effective [7].