Abstract:
Due to predicted shortage of conventional fuels and their increasing use, there has been a growing interest in alternative fuels like biofuels, methyl alcohol, ethyl alcohol, hydrogen, producer gas, and acetylene, for internal combustion (IC) engine. Gaseous fuels are recommended for clean burning. In the past decades, a lot of research has been conducted on hydrogen-powered and electrically powered vehicles. Hydrogen is being considered as a primary automotive fuel and as a replacement for conventional fuels. Hydrogen has been found to have several properties which are essential to have green alternative fuel to be used in IC engines. Its desirable properties like high auto-ignition temperature, low ignition energy, high flame velocity, high calorific value coupled with its various other combustive properties help in enhancing engine performance and motivate to use Hydrogen in a dual fuel mode in the diesel engine.
HHO gas (Hydroxy Gas / Brown Gas) generator is a promising technology in the present scenario for using Hydrogen in IC engine, which produces a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen through electrolysis. In this study, Hydroxy Gas is produced by HHO generation kit (water electrolysis) and injected at the inlet manifold, as a
supplementary fuel in a stationary Single Cylinder, Four Stroke, Constant speed, Water Cooled, Direct Injection Compression Ignition Engine. The collected data were analyzed for performance and exhaust emissions of the engine. Results show 9% drop in brake specific fuel consumption (BSFC) and 7% increase in brake
thermal efficiency (BTE). The emissions of CO, HC, and smoke have been reduced by 56%, 16%, and 5% respectively for Hydroxy- diesel mixture as compared to diesel alone. A slight increment in NOx emission of 6% has been noted.
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