Hydrogen Petrol Mixture SI Engine Sept 2025

INTRODUCTION

 

Combustion of fossil fuels has caused serious problems to the environment and the geopolitical climate of the world. The main negative effects on the environment by Fossil fuel combustion are emissions of NOx, CO, C02, and unburned hydrocarbons. The main negative effect of burning fossil fuel on the geopolitical climate is the lack in supply of these fuels and the effect pollution has on politics. There are several possible solutions to alleviate the problems of using fossil fuels, but most of them would require years of further development and additional infrastructure. This method involves burning hydrogen gas along with hydrocarbon fuels in engines

Hydrogen has long been recognized as a fuel having some unique and highly desirable properties, for application as a fuel in engines [8]. It is the only fuel that can be produced entirely from the plentiful renewable resource water, though through the expenditure of relatively much energy. Its combustion in oxygen produces uniquely only water but in air it also produces some oxides of nitrogen. These features make hydrogen an excellent fuel to potentially meet the ever increasingly strict environmental controls of exhaust emissions from combustion devices, including the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions [1]. As a promising fuel, H2 can be used in traditional internal combustion engine, gas turbine and also the innovative fuel cell. Among these, operation of the most fuel cells requires pure H2. The presence of other components such as CO could deactivate significantly the catalyst of fuel cells and reduce significantly the service life. Such excessively demanding requirement for high purity H2 makes the operation of hydrogen fuel cells economically uncompetitive though high thermal efficiency could be achieved without formation of pollutant. In comparison to fuel cells, internal combustion engine can burn almost any low purity H2. For example, the reformed gas containing mainly H2 with the presence of CO, C02, H20 and N2, has been demonstrated as a good fuel showing H2-like desirable combustion properties. The application of H2 or its mixtures with traditional fuels offers also opportunity of optimizing engine performance and reducing exhaust emissions [7]. These finds a new scope in the field of alternative fuels that can be used in IC engines. These fields include alternative fuels like high FFA rubber seed bio diesels[14][15], hydrogen, alcohol and cotton oil etc. Here in the proposed journal we explain the possibilities of using hydrogen as a fuel. Hydrogen is a clean fuel which on combustion produces water vapor as the only product. The use of hydrogen in IC engines not only help increase the efficiency of it but also it helps to reduce pollution and reduce the poisonous gases like carbon monoxide, nitrous oxide etc. The use of hydrogen helps to reduce their use and hence prevent the depletion of these precious natural resources. The principle of this mode of combustion is to add a percentage of hydrogen gas to the combustion reactions of either compression or spark ignition engines. The addition of hydrogen has been shown to decrease the formation of NOx, CO and unburned hydrocarbons. Studies have shown that added hydrogen in percentages as low as 510% percent of the hydrocarbon fuel can reduce that hydrocarbon fuel consumption [5]. The theory behind this concept is that the addition of hydrogen can extend the lean operation limit, improve the lean burn ability, and decrease burn duration. There are varieties of electrode materials used for electrolysis of water. During electrolysis splitting up of molecules is accompanied by heat release.

Effectiveness of electrolysis is based on the reaction that takes place at electrode electrolyte interface and electrical conductivity. In conventional methods we are using copper for electrolysis of water. But the electrode reacts quickly and it degrades away. Copper is poor at resisting corrosion. Nowadays the materials preferred are stainless steel, graphite, platinum, MMO coated titanium etc [11]. They have better chemical as well as physical properties. Stainless steels of different grades are used(grade 302,306.316L etc).Among these grade 316L is used mostly.it is thermally and chemically resistant and have melting point about 500 degree Celsius. Platinum, Titanium are costly materials thus using stainless steel will be economically feasible.[6]. Some users implements the electrolysis unit which consumes engine power to electrolyze the water. They claim that this increases the mileage of vehicle.in this case they directly consumes the alternator power for electrolysis or we can say that the engine power.it is a violation of first law of thermodynamics since by consuming engine power, it is impossible to increase the power of same engine. Thus here the system is modified ie the energy for electrolysis is taken by utilizing the waste energy. There are different modes of waste energy in a vehicle and that depends on the driving conditions also.one among is braking process. So in the following experiment the utilization of hydrogen along with gasoline is described and the modes of waste energy recovery for the process of hydrogen generation is explained [4].

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

3.1 Test. 1 [using test rig]

Experiment on four stroke petrol engine with and without the addition of hydrogen along with petrol.

At first gear the torque produced is high so the fuel consumed will be higher as compared to other gears TFC vs. BP curve without hydrogen lies above the curve with hydrogen. This indicates that fuel consumed in kg per hour is reduced when hydrogen is mixed with petrol when rpm is held constant. From this graph it is clear that at constant fuel consumption the brake power is more when hydrogen is added also at constant brake power the fuel consumed is reduced.

CONCLUSIONS & FUTURE SCOPE

 

Hydrogen is a fuel with heat content nearly three times that of gasoline. From our work we experimentally found out that the efficiency of an IC engine can be rapidly increased by mixing hydrogen with gasoline. We conducted two tests. Experiment with test rig and a road test with two wheeler.in both cases we observed reduction in fuel consumption.it is a clear evidence that addition of hydrogen along with petrol can results in increase in the power of the engine or increase in mileage. Moreover the various emissions normally produced from IC engines can be reduced. Thus use of hydrogen in IC engines as a fuel can be considered a huge leap in the field of automobile engineering. In this project we have proved that the mileage of the bike can be increased up to 9-10% by adding hydrogen with the petrol. The study and analysis can be extended to the following levels.  Variation in combustion characteristics on adding hydrogen including ignition delay, effect on knocking the effect on cylinder lining as a result of hydrogen combustion[9].

 

• Exhaust gas analysis which includes variations in the quantities of the various combustion products including nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxides, sulfur dioxides etc. When hydrogen is employed the harmful emissions can be reduced since the combustion product of hydrogen is water vapors only[2]
• Volumetric analysis of hydrogen including flow rate and variations in the amount of hydrogen with variations in the supply current. High sensitive flow rate measuring instruments are can be used for the measuring hydrogen flow rate. Quantity of hydrogen produced can be increased when the supply voltage is increased and the corresponding improvements in the mileage can be assessed. The recharging system can be also be modified by using solar energy.
• Efficiency of the electrolysis can be increased. The conventional modes of electrolysis have efficiency of about 50 to 80 %.PEM [polymer electrolyte membrane] electrolysis is a new method of electrolysis which have efficiency above 95%.Use of such methods increase the production of hydrogen[ 12].

 

For a more in depth reading of this important review of the Use of Hydrogen in internal combustion engines  CLICK on this link

Saturday, September 13, 2025