SAE is a huge organization with over 121,000 members. The list below is a collection of references found in their official publications of the past 35 years.

That 35 years is interesting, because it picks up in 1981, not long after NASA issued its research findings in 1977. 

As you track back, you find that the use of hydrogen to improve gasoline or other fuel combustion has made great strides since a burst of research was begun in the 1920s, followed by solid results in the 1930s and then fairly extensive actual use in Britain, Australia and Germany during World War II. 

It is regrettable (and possibly nefarious according to some who’ve studied oxy-hydrogen water fuel cell development) that both the working engines and technology simply disappeared after the war.

Both NASA and a new generation of researchers took up oxy-hydrogen water fuel cell and other hydrogen fuel research again in the 1970s.  While the technology hasn’t become mainstream yet, especially in the United States where auto companies simply chose to ignore the coming end of cheap oil until the crash in 2008, it goes forward every day around the world. 

In fact, here are a couple of excerpts relating to hydrogen technology, one hot off the press in June or 2009, with more papers presented at SAE’s 2009 annual meeting still to come.

This paper, published in June, 2009, summarizes research by a team of experts from France’s Argonne National Laboratory and Jeffrey Naber, a researcher of note at Michigan Technological University.

Assessment of Multiple Injection Strategies in a
Direct Injection Hydrogen Research Engine

Document Number: 2009-01-1920
Date Published: June 2009

“Hydrogen is widely considered a promising fuel for future transportation applications for both, internal combustion engines and fuel cells. Due to their advanced stage of development and immediate availability hydrogen combustion engines could act as a bridging technology towards a wide-spread hydrogen infrastructure.

Although fuel cell vehicles are expected to surpass hydrogen combustion engine vehicles in terms of efficiency, the difference in efficiency might not be as significant as widely anticipated. Hydrogen combustion engines have been shown capable of achieving efficiencies of up to 45%.

One of the remaining challenges is the reduction of nitric oxide emissions while achieving peak engine efficiencies.”
 
http://www.sae.org/technical/papers/2009-01-1920


In a 2004 SAE report, “Advanced Powertrains in Europe: Which Fuel,” by J.C. Griesemann of the Renault Research Division, hydrogen clearly emerged as a top choice for many reasons, among them the fact that hydrogen has the potential to be far and away the fuel with the

lowest, and ultimately without any CO2 in its emissions.  See page 15 of the PDF for the fuel emission comparison chart:

http://www.sae.org/events/sfl/pres-griesemann.pdf


We’ve indexed quite a few of SAE’s articles for you, but even we still need to catch up some of the more recent articles.  SAE’s site has an extensive catalogue of articles related to oxy-hydrogen and other promising technology from hydrogen, such as an eventual hydrogen fuel cell. You can sort by date or relevance if you want to go further.




Document Number: 810348

Date Published: February 1981

Author(s):
Krister Sj\arstr\arm - Dept. of Chemical Technology, The Royal Institute of Technol
S\arren Eriksson - Dept. of Chemical Technology, The Royal Institute of Technol
Gunnar Landqvist - Dept. of Chemical Technology, The Royal Institute of Technol

Abstract:
A system is described for onboard hydrogen generation in an internal combustion engine. The hydrogen is produced from methanol reacting with steam in recirculated exhaust gas over a Ni-catalyst. The energy for the reaction is supplied by the exhaust waste heat. The hydrogen is used to extend the lean limit of the gasoline in order to achieve higher efficiency and lower pollutant emissions.

A theoretical study of the required amount of recirculated exhaust gas has been made and the energy efficiency of the reactor has been calculated. The produced and the required amount of hydrogen have also been calculated.

A stationary test engine using the system is presented.

The results show a potential for very low pollutant emissions with an increased energy efficiency compared to that of a conventional engine.

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Document Number: 830897

Date Published: April 1989

Author(s):
Li Jing-ding - Zhejiang University, China
Lu Ying-ging - Zhejiang University, China
Du Tian-shen - Zhejiang University, China

Abstract:
The gasoline-air mixture added with a certain amount of hydrogen used as an engine fuel can extend the ignition limits, increase the rate of flame propagation and accelerate the combustion rate of the lean mixture; so that the fuel economy and emission characteristics of the engine are both improved herewith.

The testing results of a single cylinder engine and a four cylinder automotive engine using such kind of dual fuel to improve their thermal efficiencies and fuel economy as well as to decrease their exhaust emissions are described in this paper.

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Document Number: 960603

Date Published: February 1996

Author(s):
Nicolae Apostolescu - University Politehnica of Bucharest
Radu Chiriac - University Politehnica of Bucharest

Abstract:
An investigation has been done on the influence of small amounts of hydrogen added to hydrocarbon-air mixtures on combustion characteristics.

The effect of hydrogen addition to a hydrocarbon-air mixture was first approached in an experimental bomb to measure the laminar burning velocity and the shift of lean flammability limit.

Experiments carried out with a single-cylinder four-stroke SI engine confirmed the possibility of expanding the combustion stability limit, which correlates well with the general trend of enhancing the rate of combustion. An increase of brake thermal efficiency has been obtained with a reduction of HC emissions; the NO\dx emissions were higher, except for very lean mixtures.

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Document Number: 2002-01-2196

Date Published: July 2002

Author(s):
Gustavo Fontana - Universita di Cassino

Abstract:
Hydrogen and gasoline can be burned together in internal combustion engines in a wide range of mixtures. In fact, the addition of small hydrogen quantities increases the flame speed at all gasoline equivalence ratios, so the engine operation at very lean air-gasoline mixtures is possible. In this paper, the performance of a spark-ignition engine, fuelled by hydrogen-enriched gasoline, has been evaluated by using a numerical model.

A hybrid combustion model for a dual fuel, according to two one-step overall reactions, has been implemented in the KIVA-3V code. The indicated mean pressure and the fuel consumption have been evaluated at part-load operating points of a S.I. engine designed for gasoline fuelling. In particular, the possibility of operating at wide-open throttle, varying the equivalence ratio of air-gasoline mixture at fixed quantities of the supplemented hydrogen, has been studied.

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Document Number: 2004-01-0972

Date Published: March 2004

Author(s):
Enrico Conte - ETH Swiss Federal Inst. of Technology Zurich
Konstantinos Boulouchos - ETH Swiss Federal Inst. of Technology Zurich

Abstract:
The addition of hydrogen-rich gas to gasoline in an Internal Combustion Engine seems to be particularly suitable to arrive at a near-zero emission Otto engine, which would be able to easily meet the most stringent regulations.

In order to simulate the output of an on-board reformer that partially oxidizes gasoline, providing the hydrogen-rich gas, a bottled gas has been used.

Detailed results of our measurements are here shown, such as fuel consumption, engine efficiency, exhaust emissions, analysis of the heat release rates and combustion duration, for both pure gasoline and blends with reformer gas. Additionally simulations have been performed to better understand the engine behavior and NOx formation.

Results show that: When running at \gl=1 and without EGR, addition of hydrogen-rich gas produces a significant shortening of the very first phase of combustion (inflammation phase) rather than of the remaining combustion process; Addition of hydrogen-rich gas allows to run the engine at extremely high \gl or EGR rate; When running at the highest possible \gl or EGR (limited by COV increase) the duration of all phases of combustion remains almost unaffected by the diluents;

In all conditions a significant decrease of UHC and NOx emissions has been observed; In all conditions a significant increase of engine efficiency has been measured, which seems to be enough to compensate and overcome the losses due to the partial oxidation of Gasoline in the Reformer.

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Document Number: 2004-01-1270

Date Published: March 2004

Author(s):
Thorsten Allgeier - Robert Bosch GmbH
Martin Helmut Klenk - Robert Bosch GmbH
Tilo Landenfeld - Robert Bosch GmbH
Enrico Conte - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology-Zurich
Konstantinos Boulouchos - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology-Zurich
Jan Czerwinski - HTI-Biel

Abstract:
In order to meet future requirements for emission reduction and fuel economy a variety of concepts is available for gasoline engines. In the recent past new pathways have been found using alternative fuels and fuel combinations to establish cost-optimized solutions.

The presented concept for an SI engine consists of combined injection of gasoline and hydrogen. A hydrogen-enriched gas mixture is being injected additionally to gasoline into the engine manifold. The gas composition represents the output of an onboard gasoline reformer.

The simulations and measurements show substantial benefits to improve the combustion process resulting in reduced cold-start and warm-up emissions and optimized part-load operation. The replacement of gasoline by hydrogen-rich gas during engine start leads to zero hydrocarbons in the exhaust gas. The mixed fuel operation enables high EGR rates up to 50% or extended lean-burn limits resulting in reduced pumping losses and increased effective engine efficiency.

The set of measured data has been projected to the FTP driving cycle to allow a reasonable comparability to existing concepts with conventional exhaust gas aftertreatment. The compared data show promising results with a new system approach.

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Document Number: 2004-01-1851

Date Published: June 2004

Author(s):
Tomohiro Shinagawa - Toyota Motor Corporation
Takeshi Okumura - Toyota Motor Corporation
Shigeo Furuno - Toyota Motor Corporation
Kyoung-Oh Kim - Toyota Motor Corporation

Abstract:
In an SI engine, increasing the compression ratio could be one means of achieving higher thermal efficiency. However, when the compression ratio is increased, knock occurs and it prevents higher thermal efficiency. It is generally known that if the burning velocity is increased and the combustion period is shortened, the occurrence of knock may be suppressed.

Here, hydrogen was added to the gasoline engine as a means of increasing the burning velocity. As a result, it has been confirmed that the occurrence of knock could be controlled to some extent, and knock could be completely avoided depending on the conditions for the distribution of hydrogen. Furthermore, it became clear that this result might have originated not only by the increase in the burning velocity but also by the hindrance of radical production by the hydrogen.

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Document Number: 2005-01-0232

Date Published: April 2005

Author(s):
Enrico Conte - ETH - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology
Konstantinos Boulouchos - ETH - Swiss Federal Institute of Technology

Abstract:
Addition of hydrogen-rich gas to gasoline in internal combustion engines is gaining increasing interest, as it seems suitable to reach near-zero emission combustion, able to easily meet future stringent regulations.

Bottled gas was used to simulate the output of an onboard reformer (21% H\d2, 24% CO, 55% N\d2). Measurements were carried out on a 4- stroke, 2-cylinder, 0.5-liter engine, with EGR, in order to calculate the heat release rate through a detailed two-zone model.

A quasi-dimensional model of the flame was developed: it consists of a geometrical estimate of the flame surface, which is then coupled with the heat release rate. The turbulent flame speed can then be inferred. The model was then applied to blends of gasoline with hydrogen-rich gas, showing the effect on the flame speed and transition from laminar to turbulent combustion.

Comparison between the quasi-dimensional model and the conventional Metgalchi-Keck + Damk\arhler model gave a general validation for gasoline operation and suggested a modification of the usual time-delay function for transition from laminar to turbulent flame.

Results give new insight in previous findings from the heat release calculation: the effect of hydrogen-rich gas addition on flame speed is predominant in the early phase of the flame propagation, and the effect of the high curvature of the flame at the onset of combustion, compensated by the high mass diffusivity of hydrogen, is believed to be the physical reason to such behavior.

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Document Number: 2005-01-0253

Date Published: April 2005

Author(s):
Ziga Ivanic - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Ferran Ayala - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Joshua Arlen Goldwitz - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
John B. Heywood - Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Abstract:
Dilute operation of a SI engine offers attractive performance incentives. Lowered combustion temperatures inhibit NOx formation and increase the effective value of the ratio of burned gas specific heats, increasing gross-indicated efficiency. Additionally, reduced intake manifold throttling minimizes pumping losses, leading to higher net indicated efficiency. These benefits are offset by the reduced combustion speed of dilute fuel-air mixtures, which can lead to high cycle-to-cycle variation and unacceptable engine behavior characteristics.

Hydrogen enhancement can suppress the undesirable consequences of dilute operation by accelerating the combustion process, thereby extending the dilution limit. Hydrogen would be produced on-board the vehicle with a gasoline-reforming device such as the plasmatron. High dilution at higher loads would necessitate boosting to meet the appropriate engine specific power requirements.

Experiments were performed on a 12:1 compression ratio single- cylinder research engine to study the effects of hydrogen enhancement with both lean and EGR-diluted mixtures. Various parameters were monitored including overall efficiency, NOx emissions, and combustion speed. Results under partial load conditions show that lean dilution can improve engine efficiency by as much as 12 percent while EGR dilution delivers 8 percent improvement.

Either form of dilution can reduce NOx emissions by 98 percent or more when the engine is operated close to the dilution limit. While the efficiency improvement trend is similar for both forms of dilution, NOx emissions behavior differs. Lean dilution causes NOx levels to peak near lambda (\gl) of 1.1 and then decline out to the dilution limit whereas increased levels of exhaust dilution always lead to decreased NOx emissions. Converting these data for lean and EGR operation to a thermal dilution parameter (based on the thermal capacity of the diluent) shows that the effect of EGR - at equal dilution - on NOx is substantially greater than the effect of excess air.

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Document Number: 2005-01-0251

Date Published: April 2005

Author(s):
Joshua Arlen Goldwitz
John B. Heywood - Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Abstract:
As part of ongoing research on hydrogen-enhanced lean burn SI engines, this paper details an experimental combustion system optimization program. Experiments focused on three key areas: the ignition system, incylinder charge motion produced by changes in the inlet ports, and uniformity of fuel-air mixture preparation. Hydrogen enhancement is obtained with a H\d2, CO, N\d2 mixture produced by a fuel reformer such as the plasmatron.

The ignition system tests compared a standard inductive coil scheme against high-energy discharge systems. Charge motion experiments focused on the impact of different flow and turbulence patterns generated within the cylinder by restrictor plates at the intake port entrance as well as novel inlet flow modification cones. The in-cylinder fluid motion generated by each configuration was characterized using swirl and tumble flow benches. Mixture preparation tests compared a standard single-hole pintle port fuel injector against a fine atomizing 12-hole injector.

Results indicate that optimizations of the combustion system in conjunction with hydrogen-enhancement can extend the relative air/fuel ratio \gl at the lean limit of operation by roughly 25% compared against the baseline configuration. Nearly half of this improvement may be attributed to improvements in the combustion system. Furthermore, hydrogen-enhancement produces a nearly constant lean misfire limit improvement of \mA 0.20 - 0.25 \gl values, regardless of baseline combustion behavior. In contrast, the improvement of the amount of dilution with excess air at the point of peak engine efficiency decreases as engine operation becomes leaner, due to the inherently lengthening burn duration as \gl increases.

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Document Number: 2000-01-2206

Date Published: June 2000

Author(s):
Johney Boyd Green - Oak Ridge National Lab.
Leslie Bromberg - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
D. R. Cohn - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
A. Rabinovich - Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Norberto Domingo - Oak Ridge National Lab.
John M. Storey - Oak Ridge National Lab.
Robert M. Wagner
Jeffrey S Armfield - Oak Ridge National Lab.

Abstract:
It is well known that hydrogen addition to spark-ignited (SI) engines can reduce exhaust emissions and increase efficiency. Micro plasmatron fuel converters can be used for onboard generation of hydrogen-rich gas by partial oxidation of a wide range of fuels.

These plasma-boosted microreformers are compact, rugged, and provide rapid response. With hydrogen supplement to the main fuel, SI engines can run very lean resulting in a large reduction in nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions relative to stoichiometric combustion without a catalytic converter. This paper presents experimental results from a microplasmatron fuel converter operating under variable oxygen to carbon ratios.

Tests have also been carried out to evaluate the effect of the addition of a microplasmatron fuel converter generated gas in a 1995 2.3-L four- cylinder SI production engine. The tests were performed with and without hydrogen-rich gas produced by the plasma boosted fuel converter with gasoline. A one hundred fold reduction in NOx due to very lean operation was obtained under certain conditions.

An advantage of onboard plasma- boosted generation of hydrogen-rich gas is that it is used only when required and can be readily turned on and off. Substantial NOx reduction should also be obtainable by heavy exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) facilitated by use of hydrogen-rich gas with stoichiometric operation.

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Document Number: 2003-01-0630

Date Published: March 2003

Author(s):
Edward J. Tully
John B. Heywood - Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Abstract:
When hydrogen is added to a gasoline-fueled spark ignition engine the lean limit of the engine can be extended. Lean-running engines are inherently more efficient and have the potential for significantly lower NOx emissions. In the engine concept examined here, supplemental hydrogen is generated on-board the vehicle by diverting a fraction of the gasoline to a plasmatron where a partial oxidation reaction is initiated with an electrical discharge, producing a plasmatron gas containing primarily hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and nitrogen.

Two different gas mixtures were used to simulate the plasmatron output. An ideal plasmatron gas (H\d2 , CO, and N\d2) was used to represent the output of the theoretically best plasmatron. A typical plasmatron gas (H\d2, CO, N\d2, and CO\d2) was used to represent the current output of the plasmatron. A series of hydrogen addition experiments were also performed to quantify the impact of the non-hydrogen components in the plasmatron gas. Various amounts of plasmatron gas were used, ranging from the equivalent of 10%-30% of the gasoline being reformed in the plasmatron.

All of the data was compared to a baseline case of the engine operating stoichiometrically on gasoline alone. It was found that the peak net indicated fuel conversion efficiency of the system was increased 12% over the baseline case. In addition, at this peak efficiency point the engine out NOx emissions decreased by 94% (165 ppm versus 2800 ppm) while the hydrocarbon emissions decreased by 6%.

In the data analysis, the relative air/fuel ratio was found to be an inadequate measure of mixture dilution. Two dilution parameters were defined and used. The Volumetric Dilution Parameter, VDP, represents the heating value per unit volume of the air/fuel mixture. Pumping work reductions due to mixture dilution correlate with VDP. The Thermal Dilution Parameter, TDP, represents the heating value per unit heat capacity of the air/fuel mixture. Combustion and emissions parameters correlate with TDP.

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