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Due to the growing energy demands of the world and the rapid depletion of fossil fuels, it is necessary to study new energy sources. The waste have a great potential to be tapped, as besides being a raw material abundant, their use helps in reducing the level of environmental pollution and curbing the volume of waste in cities. However, one should know well the combustion process these waste before using them as fuel. Thus, Ignition behavior of combustible wastes was studied in a built fixed bed reactor. To provide a controlled thermal radiation for the ignition instant, a radiative heat flux is generated by a metal surface called a cone heater calibrated to establish the radiative heat flux density provided by a thermal resistance of 2 kW. The heat flux was 25 to 30 kWm2 over the top surface of the fuels. To validate the process, experiments with charcoal were performed varying the diameter of particles and air flow. After this, the polyethylene and human feces were analyzed. Their effects were investigated on the ignition time.

The continuous research for high efficiency and low emission engines are the technological challenges nowadays. Internal combustion engines are widely used due to low-cost if compared to the electrical vehicles' propulsion systems. Unfortunately, internal combustion engines have low efficiency; about 20%-25% are converted to mechanical power. A new hybrid approach engine running on ethanol and compressed air is presented in this paper. As a result, the global engine efficiency is improved once a part of energy comes from compressed air stored in an external reservoir. By measuring the ethanol consumption and the compressed air flux is possible to calculate the global engine efficiency when it runs a stationary electric generator connected to a known load. This paper presents a conceptual working flow of an Internal Combustion Engine and a Hybrid Engine but focused to the prototype developed. The test procedures and results are shown and the potential to apply this new concept in a vehicle.

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