Researchers from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) and Saudi Aramco have published a study attempting to identify the best strategy for hydrogen internal combustion (IC) engines. Their paper appears in the journal Fuel.

The team used computational simulations to evaluate the combustion and emission characteristics of four combustion strategies:

• H₂/diesel dual-fuel combustion with port-(DF-PI) and direct-injection (DF-DI) of H₂;

• pre-chamber combustion (PCC); and

• port-injection spark-ignition (SI).

Two ultra-lean conditions with an overall lambda (λ) of 2.5 and 3.0 were considered. A pilot energy fraction of 3% was applied in both DF modes to limit carbon oxide emissions.

Because the DF-DI mode is free of end-gas autoignition, the researchers used a high compression ratio (17:1) for this case in contrast to the other three cases (13:1).

The team found that:

• Of the four strategies, the DF-DI and SI operations tended to yield the higher optimal indicated thermal efficiency (ITE) than the DF-PI and PCC modes, due to the highest expansion ratio and usable earliest spark timing, respectively.

• However, the diffusion combustion-dominant DF-DI operation generated the highest NO_x emission, owing to the wide stoichiometric high-temperature flame periphery.

• Because of the pilot-intensified combustion process, the DF-PI operation was easy to induce end-gas autoignition, which considerably limited its load extension and improvement of ITE.

• For both the DF-PI and DF-DI operations, NO_x emissions were challenging to be eliminated even with a modeled exhaust gas recirculation rate at 50% using water injection, indicating that a DI water injection method or an after-treatment system must be implemented for the further reduction of NO_x emission.

• Both the PCC and SI modes were able to fulfill the EU VI regulation limit of NO_x emission with a relatively high ITE.

Considering that these two modes [PCC and SI] only need a single fuel supply system, they are considered more promising for practical applications than the DF-PI and DF-DI modes.

—Liu et al.

Resources

• Xinlei Liu, Hammam Aljabri, Niraj Panthi, Abdullah S. AlRamadan, Emre Cenker, Abdullah T. Alshammari, Gaetano Magnotti, Hong G. Im (2023) “Computational study of hydrogen engine combustion strategies: Dual-Fuel compression ignition with Port- and Direct-Injection, Pre-Chamber Combustion, and Spark-Ignition,” Fuel doi: 10.1016/j.fuel.2023.128801