Investigation of Hydrogen as Dual Fuel on Diesel Engine Performance

Abstract

One of the gas fuels created to enhance the diesel engines' ability to burn fuel efficiently is hydrogen. An improvement known as dual fuel technology makes use of two fuels in order to maximize combustion inside the combustion chamber. Hydrogen gas was added to diesel fuel and mixed through the diesel engine's intake manifold for this study. The purpose of the testing is to determine the comparison of power, torque, specific fuel consumption, and thermal efficiency between the use of dexlite fuel and dual fuel dexlite/hydrogen with variations in hydrogen flow rates of 2, 4, and 6 liters per minute (lpm) introduced into the combustion chamber of a single-cylinder diesel engine. The variances are at engine speeds of 1200, 1400, 1600, 1800, and 2000 rpm. The research results indicate that hydrogen dual fuel affects the power and torque performance of diesel engines. The influence of hydrogen dual fuel can enhance diesel engine performance, resulting in an increase in power of 0.154 kW and torque of 0.739 Nm compared to the absence of hydrogen addition. The highest power and torque are achieved at a hydrogen flow rate of 6 lpm at an engine speed of 2000 rpm, which are 1.65 kW and 7.85 Nm, respectively. The addition of hydrogen as a supplementary fuel in diesel engines helps to optimize the combustion process. The high calorific value of hydrogen can release greater energy based on the mass of what is burned during combustion. Dual fuel has a significant impact on specific fuel consumption (sfc) and thermal efficiency due to the presence of a hydrogen fuel mixture, which has a very small mass and a higher calorific value compared to dexlite. A significant increase in specific fuel consumption (sfc) occurs at hydrogen flow rates of 4 lpm and 6 lpm. This is due to the flammable nature of hydrogen, which allows for complete combustion to take place within the combustion chamber. The best sfc and thermal efficiency values are found at a flow rate of 6 lpm with the engine running at 2000 rpm, which are 0.324 kg/kWh and 21.56%, respectively. The smaller the sfc value, the greater the thermal efficiency. The high calorific value of hydrogen produces a large amount of energy during the combustion process.