Hydrogen has long been regarded as a good possible fuel for internal combustion (IC) engines due to its abundance, specific energy content, and lack of carbon, but concerns over safe handling, vehicle range, and NOx emissions at stoichiometry have prevented its widespread development and commercialization. This report describes work to quantify the effects of fuel humidity on the performance of an internal combustion engine fueled by hydrogen. The combustion process was simulated from both a thermodynamic and a chemical kinetics standpoint. Both simulations suggested that substantial NOx reductions could be achieved. An engine was then operated on a laboratory fuel system designed to provide hydrogen at various levels of humidity, and the sensitivity of its performance (emissions and efficiency) to humidity and excess air ratio was determined. Finally, the engine and simulation results were compared. Both simulated results and actual engine data indicate that an opportunity exists to substantially reduce the NOx emissions usually associated with combustion of hydrogen in IC engines by using fuel humidity and excess air to control the rate of heat release. A NOx reduction on the order of 85% was predicted and achieved, both at stoichiometric and at lean air/fuel ratios.
Effect of fuel humidity on the performance of a single-cylinder research engine operating on hydrogen
2002
20 Seiten, 49 Bilder, 30 Quellen
Conference paper
English
Automotive engineering | 2002
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