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Bozeman Daily Chronicle; Sunday, January 9, 2000

By SCOTT McMILLION/Chronicle Staff Writer

Scientists in Bozeman and Idaho say they may have a solution to the vexing problem of snowmobiles spewing tons of pollution into the otherwise pristine air of Yellowstone National Park.     The patented new technology is already in limited use by the military and in some airplanes, but establishing commercial footholds may be a challenge.     In a nutshell, the new technology would shift modern internal combustion into reverse: It transforms a catalytic converter, the device that removes most pollution from car exhaust into the equivalent of a spark plug.     "We've taken it out of the tailpipe and put it in the engine," said Mark Cherry, who invented the technology, which goes by the trademarked name of Smartplug.     The technology greatly reduces emissions, lets machines run on a watery alcohol mixture instead of an oil and gas more, and increases power and efficiency.     At least one snowmobile manufacturer, Bombardier of Canada, is sniffing around the project, Cherry said.     The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has helped develop the technology and the Environmental Protection Agency was interested enough to give a $70,000 research grant with the possibility of a lot more money to come.     The EPA is interested because it wants to support all sorts of projects that could prevent air pollution, said Kai Peele, a grants administrator in North Carolina.     The agency also ruled last year that the snowmobile industry has until 2005 to greatly reduce emissions. Unlike cars, the machines are unregulated at this time but the EPA considers them a significant source of pollution.     That deadline gives snowmobile makers an incentive to clean up their exhaust. Cherry is hoping his technology will help meet that goal.     "I'm hoping to get a sled running on it sometime this year," said Cherry, who jokingly referred to himself as "the mad scientist."     But he's also a man who, if everything works right, could change how the world uses motors in everything from airplanes to jet skis.     Montana State University's TechLink Center has been helping with the process. TechLink, formed in 1996, transfers technology from government or university laboratories to the open market, said Ray Freisenhahn, TechLinks interim director of electronics and telecommunications initiatives.     Here's how the new motor technology works:     Instead of being burned by spark plugs, fuel is fired by a "precombustion chamber" - a hollow brass device that contains a ceramic rod coated with a platinum-based catalyst. Instead of a distributor, wires and timing belts, the Smartplug needs only a small amount of current from a battery to start the engine's combustion process and force fire into a motor's cylinders.     After initial ignition, the heat of combustion keeps the process going.     The Smartplugs can be calibrated for different engines and different fuels. For example, the military is already burning diesel fuel in portable two-stroke engines similar to those of chainsaws and snowmobiles. Airplanes are using Cherry's technology, too. Tests with a variety of fuels show better performance and less vibration, along with reduced weight because many electrical components are eliminated.     Early models had trouble with the porcelain withstanding high temperatures, so TechLink enlisted NASA ceramics specialists, who helped design improvements, Freisenhahn said.     The EPA grant focuses on improvements for jet skis, a sort of snowmobile for the water, which already have been banned from California reservoirs because they spew so much pollution.     Two-stroke motors cough as much as 40 percent of fuel right out the tailpipe, Freisenhahn said, and the Smartplug can improve that situation.     It would allow jet skis and snowmobiles to burn a mixture of 60 percent alcohol and 40 percent water while boosting performance. While the motors would still waste a lot of unburned fuel, the alcohol is biodegradable and could even improve water quality in some cases by breaking down nitrogen in the water.     Plus, the Smartplug reduces emissions of nitrous oxide and carbon monoxide by 90 percent. It eliminates sulfur dioxide and carbon dioxide emissions and cuts by hydrocarbon's by 65 percent.     You'd think that with such promising technology, industry would be beating down Cherry's door.     But there are hurdles.     The automobile industry, for example, makes a lot of money selling catalytic converters, Cherry said, and is skeptical of new technology.     "It’s the not-invented-here syndrome," he said. Everybody's used to doing it the way it's always been done for 120 years."     Plus there’s a huge infrastructure – parts suppliers, gas stations and others - that relies on traditional internal combustion.     That's why his company is focusing on snowmobiles and jet skis for now. They could be easily retrofitted with the Smartplug system, localized fuel-distribution systems in places Eke Yellowstone would be fairly simple, and the EPA is coming down on the high polluting vehicles, giving the industry an incentive to investigate new ways of doing things.     "It sounds intriguing," said Ed Klim, president of the International Snowmobile Manufacturers Association.     Manufacturers are working on other ways to reduce emissions, he said, but he cautioned that any new technology must undergo lengthy and rigorous tests.     Durability and reliability are big concerns, he said, as is product liability. If a manufacturer makes a promise, he said, the product "darn well better do if' and snowmobiles often have to perform in incredibly bad weather.     But even if the technology is proven in the field, that may not be enough to guarantee success in the modern economy.     "Me better technology doesn't always win," Freisenhahn said.     You can't just build it, Cherry said, you have to sell it. So be is hoping to license the technology to a company that already has the physical plant, reputation and finances to produce and sell the plugs.     "It’s going to be live or die by better marketing and financial resources," he said.

PHOTO COURTESY OF TECHLINK

PHOTO COURTESY OF TECHLINK Idaho inventor Mark Cherry, who devised a way to make engines run cleaner, places one of his Smartplug

Bozeman Daily Chronicle; Sunday, January 9, 2000

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