Search Results

The use of hydrogen as an engine fuel has great potential for reducing exhaust emissions since, with the exception of a small amount of carbon containing emissions originating from the lubricating oil, oxides of nitrogen are the only pollutant emitted. There is long term interest in the use of hydrogen as a fuel in the event it proves necessary to take extreme measures to limit the emission of carbon dioxide because of the greenhouse effect. Conversion of an engine to operate on hydrogen is not a straightforward task. Hydrogen-fueled spark ignition engines suffer from high susceptability to surface ignition and subsequent backfiring. For this reason the feasibility of employing direct injection of hydrogen to fuel a diesel engine has been explored. A single-cylinder Lister ST-1 direct injection diesel engine has been converted to operate on hydrogen.