HYDROGEN AS AN ALTERNATE FUEL FOR I.C.

ENGINES:- A REVIEW

Akash Singh Rajput (2K16/AE/501), Bharat (2K16/AE/502), Himanshu Panchal (2K16/AE/503), Himanshu
Kapoor (2K16/AE/504), Manish Kumar (2K16/AE/505), Vishwajeet (2K16/AE/506).

Students of Bachelors in Technology, Department of Mechanical and Automotive engineering, Delhi

Technological University, New Delhi, India.

ABSTRACT

The recent years have witnessed a growing demand for alternative automotive technology to combat increasing
pollution levels and counter the effect of depleting reserves of fossil based conventional energy resources. As a
result of these environmental concerns, various studies and trials have been conducted on automobile engines to
understand the feasibility of alternate fuels. Hydrogen is one such alternate fuel whose benefits include
abundance in availability, eco-friendliness and a high efficiency level, however it also has some disadvantages like
rapid pressure rise, pre-ignition, knocking etc. which need to be overcome to attain technical feasibility. This paper
attempts to describe the use of Hydrogen as a fuel in IC engines supplemented by the challenges associated with
its use.

INTRODUCTION

The past few decades have been a period which has witnessed an unprecedented rate of scientific progress and
technological advancement. The Automobile industry which started with the relatively simple external combustion
engine (steam engine) invented by James Watt, now boasts of a diverse range of engines suited for distinct
applications. However, skipping to the current time, one of the main issues faced by the world at present is the
depletion of conventional fossil based fuels like petrol and diesel which if used at the current rate is expected to be
completely exhausted in the coming 4 to 5 decades. Another problem is the increasing concentration of emissions
like NOX, CO etc. which have proved to have disastrous consequences like global warming and climate shifts. The
aforementioned being the status quo, there is an urgent requirement to balance the benefits and the resultant
adversities of development, which has been made possible by technological refinement. In the automotive sector,
this balance is being progressively achieved by the use of alternate fuels which besides overcoming the reliance on
conventional fuels have also resulted in reducing the magnitude of carbon footprints by controlling emission
quality.

Although hydrogen has found a niche as a rocket propellant, yet the use of hydrogen as an automotive fuel is not
new. The first automotive technology running on hydrogen was developed in 1806. However, the lack of
technological knowledge proved to be a bottleneck for the development of the idea. This is not the case anymore.
WHY HYDROGEN

 Abundance in availability
 Higher calorific value than hydrocarbons
 Non polluting

PROPERTIES OF HYDROGEN

1. Low ignition energy requirement:- This facilitates prompt ignition and allows for lean mixtures in
hydrogen engines. This, however creates the problems of premature ignition and flashback. The energy
requirement of the hydrogen- air mixture is even lesser which means that it can be ignited using a glow
plug or a resistance wire.

2. High auto ignition temperature:- This is the temperature at which a substance ignites by itself without the
use of any external source. Since the compression ratio determines the temperature to which the air fuel
mixture rises, the required compression ratio is dependent on the auto ignition temperature.

3. Wide range of flammability:- Hydrogen has a wide range of flammability as compared to the other fuels.
This allows the utilization of a wide range of air fuel mixtures. Hence hydrogen fuelled engines can run on
lean mixtures which results in a greater fuel economy and a more complete combustion reaction.

4. High diffusivity:- The ability of hydrogen to disperse in air is greater than that of petrol. This serves two
benefits viz. increased uniformity of fuel air mixture and quick dispersion in case of leaks.

5. Small quenching distance:- The quenching distance for hydrogen is lesser than that of petrol which makes
it relatively more difficult to quench a hydrogen flame.

DESIGN OF HYDROGEN ENGINES

A disk-shaped combustion chamber (with a flat piston and chamber ceiling) will help in reducing chamber
turbulence. The disk shape leads to low radial and tangential velocity components prevents the amplification of
inlet swirl during compression. Since there are no unburned hydrocarbons in hydrogen engines, a large bore-to-
stroke ratio can be allowed. Two spark plugs shall suffice for the accommodation of the wider range of flame
speeds that occur over a greater range of equivalence ratios. The cooling system must provide flow of the coolant
at a uniform rate. Two small exhaust valves shall be used as opposed to a single large one to decrease the
probability of pre ignition . Moreover an effective scavenging system shall also be required.

Additional requirements

 Crankcase Ventilation:- Unburned fuel can seep into the crankcase through leakages in the piston rings. If
this happens hydrogen will ignite in the crankcase due to the low self ignition temperature. In order to
prevent that from happening the crankcase needs to be provided with ventilation for the gas to escape.
  Storage:- Hydrogen has a very low volumetric energy density even when the fuel is stored as in a
compressed or a liquid form and hence requires a lot of storage space. Hydrogen is characterized by a
three times higher calorific value compared to gasoline (143 MJ/kg against 46.9 MJ/kg). However, there
has been some research into using special crystalline materials to store hydrogen at greater densities and
at lower pressures.

Type of Fuel Delivery Systems that can be used

 Port Injection System:- The port injection system injects fuel directly into the intake manifold at each
intake port, rather than drawing fuel in at a central point. The hydrogen is injected into the manifold
following the beginning of the intake stroke. There are two types of port injection systems- constant
volume injector and electronic fuel injector.

 Direct Injection System:- In direct injection, the intake valve is closed while the fuel is injected,
completely avoiding premature ignition during the intake stroke. Consequently the engine cannot backfire
into the intake manifold. It’s power output is 20% more than for a gasoline engine and 42% more than a
hydrogen engine using a carburettor.

 Central Injection System The is the simplest method of delivering fuel to a hydrogen engine. This system
has advantages for a hydrogen engine. It does not require the hydrogen supply pressure to be as high as
for other methods and central injection are used on gasoline engines, making conversion of a standard
gasoline engine to hydrogen or a gasoline/hydrogen engine possible.

HYDROGEN AS A CLEAN FUEL

 For the equal amount of energy, the following fuels release the corresponding values for carbon dioxide.

While gasoline, diesel and methanol release pretty much the same amount of carbon dioxide, natural gas releases
lesser while hydrogen releases none.

 Comparison of fuel storage weights corresponding to 30 litres of Petrol.

In case of liquid hydrogen as a fuel, the total weight of the fuel tank and fuel itself is 1.3 times and 2.7 times that of
methanol and gasoline engine respectively. It can be deliberated to be in the practical range. Therefore an internal
mixing hydrogen engine has tremendous basic features as compared to gasoline Engine.

Use of Hydrogen in Spark Ignition Engine:-

Hydrogen is an excellent alternate fuel for spark ignition engine with highly desirable properties. When the
hydrogen fuel is mixed with air to produce the combustible mixture for spark ignition engine at an equivalence
ratio below the lean flammability limits of gasoline, it results into ultra-lean combustion which produces low flame
temperature and leads directly to lower heat transfer to the walls, higher engine efficiency and lower exhaust of
NOx emissions.

Use of Hydrogen in Compression Ignition Engine :-

A lot of research has been done upon Hydrogen Compression Ignition engines. In fact, various researchers have
worked on the development of high pressure direct hydrogen injection method utilizing diesel configurations. CI
engines offer higher thermal efficiency and durability. One challenge which comes with the use of hydrogen in a CI
engine is that it needs comparatively high auto ignition temperature, and therefore, some external source of
ignition is required.

EFFICIENCY

The high octane and low lean-flammability limit of hydrogen facilitates the attainment of high thermal efficiencies
in an engine. A comparison between the various studies conducted have found compression ratio of approximately
14.5:1 to be optimal due to heat transfer losses at higher CR. Besides the BTE increase, with an increase in
compression ratio, engines have higher efficiencies than gasoline engines at similar CR. This is observed by
comparing the gasoline and hydrogen data sets of experimental hydrogen fuelled automotive engine design data
base project .Compared to gasoline operation the BTE with hydrogen operation is higher over the entire range,
with the relative increase maximum at medium loads. The drop-off in the relative difference in BTE between
gasoline and hydrogen at low loads is because of the need for some throttling.

The drop-off at high loads is most probably due to increasing heat transfer losses. This shows that for an engine
the relative fraction of the heat release lost by heat transfer to the cylinder walls increases monotonically with
increasing equivalence ratio. The trend is explained as a result of increasing flame velocity, an increase in flame
temperature and a decrease in quenching distance with an increase in equivalence ratio that leads to narrow
thermal boundary layers.

POWER DEVELOPED:-
 The theoretical maximum power obtainable from a hydrogen engine depends on the air/fuel ratio and fuel
injection method used. The stoichiometric air/fuel ratio for hydrogen is 34:1. At this ratio, hydrogen displaces 29%
of the combustion chamber leaving only 71% for the air. Therefore, the energy content of this mixture will be less
than it would be if the fuel were gasoline. Since both the carburetted and port injection methods mix the fuel and
air prior to it entering the combustion chamber, these systems limit the maximum theoretical power that can be
obtained to approximately 85% of that of gasoline engines. For direct injection systems, which serve the purpose
of mixing the fuel with the air after the intake valve has closed (and thus the combustion chamber has 100% air),
the maximum output of the hydrogen engine can be approximately a significant 15% higher than that for gasoline
engines. Therefore, the maxi- mum output for a hydrogen engine can be either 15% higher or 15% less than that of
gasoline depending on how the fuel is metered if a stoichiometric air/fuel ratio is used. However, at a
stoichiometric air/fuel ratio, the combustion temperature is very high and as a result it will form a large amount of
nitrogen oxides (NOx), which is a criteria pollutant. Therefore, hydrogen engines are usually not designed to run at
a stoichiometric air/fuel ratio.

EMISSIONS:-

The combustion of hydrogen with oxygen produces only water as the product: 2H2 + O2 = 2H2O. The combustion
of hydrogen with air may however produce nitrogen oxides (NOx): H2 + O2 + N2 = H2O + N2 + NOx. Nitrogen oxides
are created due to the high temperatures generated within the combustion chamber during combustion. This high
temperature causes the combination of some of the nitrogen in the air to with the oxygen in the air. The amount
of NOx formed depends on:

 The air/fuel ratio

 The engine compression ratio
 The engine speed
 The ignition timing
 Thermal dilution

MAJOR DRAWBACKS:-

One of the most significant obstacles in developing hydrogen technology is its storage and transport. The problem
is easily seen by making a comparison between the energy to volume ratio for gaseous hydrogen (3.0MJ/L) to that
of conventional gasoline (32.0MJ/L). This means that at the same volume, the energy produced by hydrogen is
about ten times lower than that from conventional gasoline. This is indicative of a storage problem, for example: a
big, heavy tank would be required to store and transport the required amount of hydrogen. Some possible
solutions are to use liquid hydrogen (8.5MJ/L), compressed hydrogen or to store hydrogen in solid metallic support
such as metal complexes (hydrides). For compressed hydrogen, liquid tanks of a very strong, lightweight material
need to be made.Also this material should have strong insulating and pressurization properties. Nanotechnology
can be used to produce such a material.

APPLICATIONS:-

A few automotive firms had experimented with and adopted hydrogen as a fuel. They are as follows:-

1. Mazda RX-8 RE Hydrogen, 2003

  Engine- Twin rotor Wankel engine which used both hydrogen and Petrol bar (It produced 154 KW and 222
Nm if torque at 5000 RPM while running on petrol and 80KW and 140 Nm of torque at 5000 RPM while
using Hydrogen as fuel)
 Hydrogen tank capacity- 110 litres at 350 bars
 Petrol tank capacity- 60 litres
 Range on full tank of hydrogen- 100 km
 Range on full tank of petrol- 550km

2. BMW Hydrogen 7

 Engine- duel fuel 6000cc V12 engine (output- 191 KW and 390 Nm of torque)
 Hydrogen tank capacity- 8 kg
 Petrol tank capacity- 36 litres
 Range on full tank of hydrogen- 200 km
 Range on full tank of petrol- 480km

3. BMW H2R

 Engine- duel fuel 6000cc V12 engine (output- 191 KW and 390 Nm of torque)

CONCLUSION

Although the use of hydrogen as a fuel for I.C. engines poses many challenges yet to be resolved, it is still one of
the most feasible alternatives available to us and hence the future shall see greater technological development in
order to solve the current problems to optimally utilize hydrogen as a storehouse of energy.

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