Enhancement of the performance and emissions reduction of a hydroxygen-blended gasoline engine using different catalysts

Abstract

Recently, Egypt has been suffering from rapid and considerable growth in fossil fuel demand, especially in the transportation sector. Hydroxy (HHO) gas which is generated from water electrolysis process has a significant effect on increasing the engine performance, and reducing fuel consumption, and emissions. In the present work, a dry fuel cell is constructed and tested under different types of electrolysis, different concentrations of electrolytes, and different numbers of neutral plates (NP) to obtain the most economic, safe, and best cell quality suitable for different engine operating conditions. A 183-cc single cylinder SI engine connected with a hydraulic pump, in one unit, was used for the study. HHO gas was supplied to the intake manifold of the engine under different conditions. The results showed that engine performance is most improved by using HHO gas generated by KOH electrolyte, 4 NP, at 1500 rpm. Under the optimum conditions, the maximum increase in the engine/pump efficiency was 47.24 %, maximum decrease in specific fuel consumption (SFC) was 32.1 %, and maximum reduction in CO and HC emissions were 91.7 %, and 34.84 %, respectively.