What is the cost of the methylcyclohexane per tankful of gas? What special handling is required because the stuff appears to be nasty to to the touch as caustic soda?

Otherwise, the improvements appear significant.

Lean burn concepts sharply reduce throttling losses in part load compared to conventional engines. To avoid free oxygen in the exhaust gases - which would foil NOx reduction in the three-way catalyst - externally cooled EGR can be used to dilute the fresh charge.

Hydrogen is hard to ignite (high octane number) but combusts very quickly, so adding a small amount of hydrogen to the primary fuel compensates for the slower flame propagation at elevated EGR levels. Engine-out NOx levels will still be low if peak temperatures in the flame front are modest.

Unfortunately, lugging around a hydride tank is fairly impractical. A second-best but liquid and cheap alternative to hydrogen as an accelerant would be port-injected methanol. However, methanol is quite poisonous and therefore requires careful handling. It is also corrosive to most of the materials used in engines and fuel systems, greatly increasing wear and tear unless (expensive) alternatives are used.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methanol_fuel

Note that it is possible to use the primary fuel to produce syngas (H2 + CO) in a fuel reformer on the fly, but this sharply reduces the fuel economy gain from running lean.

Looks like an integrated RPG 7 anti tank launcher.
AH

"Adding several percent of hydrogen dehydrogenated from the organic hydride to the intake air supported very lean-burn combustion. Fuel efficiency was improved by 30%..."

This seem like a large improvement in efficiency for such a small amount of H2. I wonder if this is just the case in lean burn, or could be done in regular engines.

@ Sjc -

I suspect the modifications to the engine hardware were minor compared to those to the fuel system. The 30% gain is consistent with unthrottled operation in the Japanese duty cycle, which features lower speeds and accelerations than its US and EU counterparts.

For reference, Mercedes and BMW achieved gains of 20-25% with their stratified GDI engines, which represent an alternate route to lean burn operation.

Thanks,

I was just wondering if H2 provided more in efficient combustion than just the BTU content of the H2. Apparently it does, but not all that much of an improvement. I recall some articles on here about large trucks using it, but even a slight improvement would be a big deal there.

Using hydrogen to allow lean burn is old news-
http://www.hydrogen-boost.com/
http://www.hy-drive.com/main/default.asp
The only difference here is the chemical they're using as a hydrogen carrier.

The Hy-drive one was what I was thinking of. It seems to reduce emissions and maybe a bit better economy. Not sure it is worth the effort or cost except in some select applications.

There is yet another way to use H2 to allow lean burn - fuel blends. Although you can blend hydrogen (which is a gas) with a liquid like gasoline you can blend it with another gas like CNG.
One brandname for this is Hythane.
Although this does mean you need to convert your engine to run on it, it also means you don't need a separate tank for the hydrogen carrier.

The Hythane idea looks interesting. Perhaps if people have to compress the NG in their garage, they might add some H2 as well. Probably not worth the cost for efficiency, but would reduce emissions. That might be a good thing to do with fleet vehicles that put on lots of miles in the city, like buses.

I figure that this will show up here soon:

"According to EE Times, a California-based company called QuantumSphere has developed nanoparticles that could make hydrogen cheaper than gasoline. The company says its reactive catalytic nanoparticle coatings can boost the efficiency of electrolysis (the technique that generates hydrogen from water) to 85% today"

http://blogs.zdnet.com/emergingtech/?p=847

WATER IS COMPRESSED HYDROGEN AND OXYGEN

Put a container of water under the hood. Stick in 2 electrodes, one to ignition, one to a ground. That makes Hydrogen and oxygen. Run a tube to the vacum line on the motor. That supplies Hydrogen and Oxygen to the motor. The oxygen intensifies the combustion of both gasoline and Hydrogen gas. Could double your mpg.

HOW MUCH DOES WATER COST???

'Organic Hydride' : a new trendy word for 'hydrocarbon' or petrochemical.
Although the efficiency improvement is positive, it would give the impression of using a new kind of hydrogen fuel. How much extra energy does it produce purified methylcyclohexane out of petrol ? It would be more fun if you could use wood-derived syngas.

I'll toss this out for battering.

Hydrogen augmentation of the primary ICE fuel definitely works. I don't think that is disputed.

People also hope something like a wonderful Hydrogen Age of no pollution and fuel cells can work. When or how such an age can come is a contentious subject, to say the least.

The connecting thought is that utilizing H for augmentation is somewhat of a proxy or pilot for using it as the primary fuel.

Both require a molecular source since we have no free H, a means for local generation or a distribution means, and a market plan that can lure capital.

Even using a few % of H in millions of vehicles still means a lot of H must be available.

If H will beome the primary fuel (not my belief but I have no dog in the fight) then an decade or more of transition via augmented ICE fuels should accelerate development of the H infrastructure.

I put the QuantumSphere announcement here because this site did post their press releases in the past. If this is true, it improves the efficiency of H2 production.

HYDROGEN IS COMPRESSED IN WATER.

ELECTROLISIS DECOMPRESSES WATER INTO HYDROGEN AND OXYGEN. ELECTROLISIS CAN BE ACCOMPLISHED UNDER THE HOOD. WHAT'S THE PROBLEM?

Leo,

Give it a rest. If you persist, the site manager will track your IP and contact your ISP and ban you permanently.

Leo, on the left hand side of your keyboard, 3 buttons up fromo the bottom there should be a key that says "Caps Lock". Hit it.
Thank you.

Why not just use ammonia? It's available in mass quantities, vaporizes at low temperatures, burns and contains lots of hydrogen. What's the deal with setting up a system that requires exotic chemicals?

@Pangolin - BOOM! or *gasp* go the passengers.

sjc:

Please don't throw out the conscept of producing hydrogen on board to mix with fuel for increased ICE efficiency.

A group has recently produced such a small unit. They claim that their unit is 10 times smaller, mucg cheaper to produce and gets over 85% conversion efficiency, from water to hydrogen.

If it turns out to be true, mixing hydrogen with fuel may be a way to further improved ICE efficiency while reducing GHG.

I was not throwing out anything, there is no evidence that it would be cost effective. The facts will throw it out if that is what they show.

@sjc,

The problem is that H2O is not "compressed" hydrogen/oxygen, as you claim. They're chemically bonded into distinct molecules (note: by your reasoning, hydrogen peroxide is also "compressed" hydrogen and oxygen, yet behaves very differently from water!).

As such, you need energy to release the bonds. Problem is, you need more energy to release the bonds than what you'll get back once burned.

The trick is to make a system which delivers a concomitant efficiency boost in the internal combustion engine, such that it overcomes this loss of efficiency.

Some claim to have observed this efficiency break-even or even exceeded it. Others still find the claims worthy of skepticism. I believe it ultimately depends on the engine you couple the system with. Some makes of engines seem to yield better results than others.

Hence, "Your Mileage May Vary" takes on a whole new meaning.

I have installed a 2 unit HHO Generator in my 1995 Ford
Escort 1.9 engine!It uses approx.6-7 amps when running &
has a manual shut-off switch.Additionally,the generator-(s)are connected together and an air pump(110 volts)is used to accelerate the HHO via a 1/2" clear plastic tube to the intake of the engine.A one-way preasure valve is installed in this line to prevent flash-back!
It seems to be doing good by adding MPG to the vehicle.
I will be making an assessment of MPG soon to see if there is an MPG improvement!! jfd