The operation of a direct injection spark ignition engine fueled with gasoline-hydrogen mixtures in dual-fuel mode

A lot of research studies have concluded that for the near future practically, it is almost impossible to replace the internal combustion engine which has become an essential part of the transportation, industrial and agriculture sectors. However, taking into consideration that the internal combustion engine is a main factor of pollution problems and sometimes the amplitude of oil crises is producing turbulences on petroleum derived fuels market, many researchers suggested that hydrogen could be one of the promising alternative energy carriers due to its many excellent combustion properties. This fuel could be used for improving combustion and emissions performance of internal combustion engines since it is carbon clean. In this paper, the operation of a direct injection spark ignition engine fueled with gasoline-hydrogen mixtures in dual-fuel mode was studied and compared with pure gasoline fueling. The base line engine used, was a turbocharged 1.6L Renault K4M SI model engine, which has been theoretically modified to be able to reach the Ford EcoBoost 1.6L engine performance, delivering 180 hp at 5800 rpm. The simulations were performed for full load condition, using different mass fractions of hydrogen mixed with gasoline as following 5%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 95% and 100% directly injected in the cylinder by a special dual gas-liquid fuel injector.