"Because we can predict when we are going to have to start the engine," says Louckes, "this allows us to preheat the catalyst, warm the combustion chamber, and run the engine on a lean fuel mixture, which drastically reduces emissions and oil contamination," says Louckes.
The lean fuel mixtures, studied in a cylinder roughly 30 centimeters in diameter, generated unusually cool flames with about one-hundredth the power of a common match flame, says project scientist Karen J.