Production of HHO gas in the water-electrolysis unit and the influences of its introduction to CI engine along with diesel-biodiesel blends at varying injection pressures

Abstract

Hydrogen has been identified as a clean and renewable energy source that has a significant potential to replace fossil fuels. The effective production of hydrogen on a commercial scale, however, presents a vital obstacle in today's world. Water splitting electrolysis, which offers high energy conversion and storage capabilities, has emerged as a promising approach for achieving the efficient hydrogen production to address this issue. This experimental research focuses on the production of hydrogen-oxygen gas through the electrolysis process. HHO gas provides promising benefits in terms of better combustion and lower emissions. Therefore, it also focuses on how best HHO gas can be utilized in diesel engines to improve the performance and to reduce the emissions. HHO gas produced at 60 L per hour through electrolysis process is mixed with air in a mixing chamber. Also, Palm munja methyl ester of 10% and diesel fuel of 90% was volumetrically blended to get B10 biodiesel. Therefore, totally four test fuels (Diesel, Diesel + HHO, B10, and B10 + HHO) were tested on a single-cylinder Kirloskar water-cooled direct injection diesel engine under different engine speeds ranging from 1447 to 1550 rpm. The engine injector pressure was varied from 200, 220, and 240 bar during the experiments with an interval of 20 bar. The engine has been modified for hydrogen and oxygen inlet at the entrance manifold 6 cm away at an angle of 30°. The results shows that at 200 bar injection pressure with B10 + HHO blend exhibits better performance and released lower emissions. The performance results also show that the brake thermal efficiency was improved up to 14.16%, and the brake power was increased by 3.22%, while the brake-specific fuel consumption is reduced by 11.53%. The emission results show that CO, HC, NOx, and CO2 emissions were reduced by 20.87%, 11.47%, 1.96%, and 5.22%, respectively. Therefore, it can be concluded that B10 + HHO provides better performance and the lowest emissions compared with other blends.