Edinburgh Napier University

  Two types of transport which are currently challenging to decarbonize and electrify are heavy-duty vehicles (HDVs) and ships. HDVs and ships are predominantly powered by compression ignition (CI) engines fueled with diesel. Hydrogen use in CI engines has not been particularly attractive mainly because of hydrogen’s large resistance to autoignition. The most popular approach to this regard has been a dual fuel strategy, where the ignition of the in-cylinder charge is achieved by the direct injection of a more reactive fuel, e.g., diesel. In CI dual-fuel operation, hydrogen has been mainly used with carbon-based fuels, thus, cancelling or reducing the efforts for drastic greenhouse gases reduction. Recently, an alternative approach was proposed which relies on the use of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) for the ignition promotion of H2/air mixtures, accompanied by steam (H2O) dilution for NOx reduction purposes, at CI-relevant conditions. The aim of the current project is the demonstration of the feasibility and limitations of the proposed technology using numerical CI engine setups with a main focus on engine performance and NOx emissions. The decarbonisation technology proposed in the current project aspires to combine carbon-neutrality with the simplicity and the high efficiency of a CI engine without requiring any engine redesign.