Hydrogen—An Alternative Fuel for Automotive Diesel Engines Used in Transportation

Abstract

Considering the current environmental restrictions, particularly those imposed on fossil fuel exploitation, hydrogen stands out as a very promising alternative for the power and transportation sectors. This paper investigates the effects of the employment of hydrogen in a K9K automotive diesel engine. Experiments were conducted at a speed of 2000 min−1 with various engine load levels of 40%, 55%, 70%, and 85%; several quantities were monitored to evaluate the performance with hydrogen use in terms of brake-specific energetic consumption (BSEC), fuel economy, maximum pressure, and heat-release characteristics. It was found that at 55% engine load, the engine efficiency increased by 5.3% with hydrogen addition, achieving a diesel fuel economy of 1.32 kg/h. The rate of increase of the peak pressure and maximum pressure started to increase as a consequence of the higher fuel quantity that burned in the premixed combustion phase, while still remaining within reliable operational limits. The accelerated combustion and augmented heat release rate resulted in a combustion duration that was reduced by 3° CA (crank angle degree), achieving a mass fraction burned percentage of 10% to 90% earlier in the cycle, and the combustion variability was also influenced. Hydrogen use assured the decrease of CO2, HC, NOx, and smoke emission levels in comparison with classic fueling.

A Review on Recent Progress in the Integrated Green Hydrogen Production Processes

“…Reactions ( 24) to ( 28) are chemical absorption, electrolytic oxidation, adiabatic mixing, stored thermal and electric heat processes, respectively [152]. The separation of oxygen from sulfur dioxide occurs in Reaction (24), where sulfur dioxide is absorbed in water [152]. The typical reaction of the process is Reaction (25), in which hydrogen and ammonium sulfate are produced by electrocatalytic oxidation of ammonium sulfite at 80-150 • C and low pressures [135,152].…”

“…As shown in Figure 1, greener energy sources (high GF) have high hydrogen content (high HCF) and more negligible environmental effect (low EIF) [16,17]. Hydrogen can replace fossil fuels in feedstock required for oil refining [18,19], steelmaking [20], commercial and residential heating [21], energy storage and stationary/portable applications [22,23], alternative fuels for automotive diesel engines [24], fuel cell-based combined heat and power plants [25], aerospace applications [26], etc. Unlike fossil fuels, hydrogen must be produced before being used as a clean energy source.…”

Effect of Hydrogen Enhancement on Natural Flame Luminosity of Tri-Fuel Combustion in an Optical Engine

“…Fundamental studies, including experimental and computational studies, have evaluated the effects of the CH 4 -H 2 ratio [27,28], oxidizer compositions, operating temperature, and pressure on the ignition process, flame properties, and combustion stabilities [4,24,29,30]. Meanwhile, the effect of charge-air temperature [31] and pilot-fuel properties under different engine operating conditions [32][33][34][35] have been extensively studied as well. However, the fundamental experiments mostly focused on some specific properties, such as the ignition delay time (IDT), laminar flame velocity, flame structure, and emission formation using shock tubes, rapid compression machines (RCM), and constant volume combustion chambers (CVCC), which have different operating conditions and a less complex flow field compared to the practical engine.…”

Hydrogen Infrastructure Project Risks in The Netherlands

“…Research on hydrogen is rapidly developing. Studies are related to the risks and opportunities [2,3], demand and supply [4,5], the technology needed [6], hydrogen as a transportation fuel [7], the hydrogen supply chain [8] and the hydrogen economy, as well as the different types of hydrogen. Although research has been done on hydrogen application risks, this mostly relates to safety risks of infrastructures, instead of risks involved in setting up an infrastructure or a market.…”