This article focuses on aspects of an onboard fuel-distilling system aims to curb the belch of hydrocarbons from a cool starting engine. According to an expert, feeding an engine high-volatility fuel during warm-up can halve the hydrocarbon emissions during a 30-minute drive. Ronald Mathews, along with Rudy Stanglmaier, a former University of Texas Austin doctoral student now with the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio, and two Ford engineers, Wen Dai and George Davis, have patented an on-board distillation system that can refine fast-evaporating species from fuel while the engine is running and set aside the product as a reserve to be used at start-up. Among the key elements of the system is a level sensor in the reserve tanks. If the reserve falls too low, a control system in the engine central processing unit will trigger the distillation while the engine is running warm. The research for the technology, called the onboard distillation system, was supported in part by the Texas Advanced Technology Program, with Ford underwriting the patent application process.

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