i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 5 ( 2 0 2 0 ) 5 5 7 7 e5 5 8 7

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

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A renewable pathway towards increased

utilization of hydrogen in diesel engines

Saket Verma*, Abhishek Suman, L.M. Das, S.C. Kaushik, S.K. Tyagi
Centre for Energy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, India

highlights

Biodiesel-H2 dual fuel operation of the diesel engine has been experimentally studied.

Performance features with maximum pilot fuel substitution and emissions are analysed.

Biodiesel showed better pilot fuel substitution at low load and low emission.

It was possible to significantly reduce NOx emissions at high load using EGR.

article info abstract

Article history: In the present work, dual fuel operation of a diesel engine has been experimentally
Received 12 February 2019 investigated using biodiesel and hydrogen as the test fuels. Jatropha Curcas biodiesel is
Received in revised form used as the pilot fuel, which is directly injected in the combustion chamber using con-
22 May 2019 ventional diesel injector. The main fuel (hydrogen) is injected in the intake manifold using
Accepted 25 May 2019 a hydrogen injector and electronic control unit. In dual fuel mode, engine operations are
Available online 19 June 2019 studied at varying engine loads at the maximum pilot fuel substitution conditions. The
engine performance parameters such as maximum pilot fuel substitution, brake thermal
Keywords: efficiency and brake specific energy consumption are investigated. On emission side, ox-
Dual fuel ides of nitrogen, hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide and smoke emissions are analysed. Based
Hydrogen on the results, it is found that biodiesel-hydrogen dual fuel engine could utilize up to 80.7%
Biodiesel and 24.5% hydrogen (by energy share) at low and high loads respectively along with
Emissions improved brake thermal efficiency. Furthermore, hydrocarbon, carbon monoxide and
EGR smoke emissions are significantly reduced compared to single fuel diesel engine operation.
Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) has also been studied with biodiesel-hydrogen dual fuel
engine operations. It is found that EGR could improve the utilization of hydrogen in dual
fuel engine, especially at the high loads. The effect of EGR is also found to reduce high
nitrogen oxide emissions from the dual fuel engine and brake thermal efficiency is not
significantly affected.
© 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

* Corresponding author. Engines & Unconventional Fuels Lab, Block-5, Centre for Energy Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi,
Hauz Khas, New Delhi, 110016, India.
E-mail addresses: saketverma@hotmail.com, saket.verma@ces.iitd.ac.in (S. Verma).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2019.05.213
0360-3199/© 2019 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
5578 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 5 ( 2 0 2 0 ) 5 5 7 7 e5 5 8 7
Introduction
In the backdrop of ever increasing energy demand and
dwindling ecological stability, pursuit for alternative green
fuels has been intensified in the last couple of decades. The
world has seen unprecedented increase in energy demand,
which has been primarily fulfilled by fossil based energy
sources. In today's scenario, up to 80% of the world energy
demand is satisfied by fossil fuels, such as coal, petroleum oil
and natural gas [1]. Due to combustion of these fossil fuels,
significant amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other noxious
gases have been added in the atmosphere causing global
warming and serious environmental changes. Various coun-
tries of the world have taken a cue from this situation and
have set a goal to limit global warming below 1.5  C [2]. In this
direction, one of the most important steps is to increase
renewable energy supply to reduce the dependence on fossil
based energy sources. However, there persists many technical
and economic challenges in the production and utilization of
renewable energy sources, and a complete replacement of
fossil fuels is difficult in near future [3]. Therefore, a synergy
between fossil and renewable energy sources will cater to the
world energy demand in this period. It is also important to
ensure that a smooth transition can be realized from fossil
fuel based conventional technologies to renewable technolo-
gies. Therefore, it is prudent to improve the efficiency of our
existing thermal systems and make them capable of utilizing
adequate amount of renewable fuels. Alternative fuels for
automotive and decentralized power generation sectors have
been a prime research area as they are one of the major
consumers of petroleum oil. In this quest, hydrogen has been
considered as the ideal fuel combustion of which does not
generate any noxious pollutant (except oxides of nitrogen).
The conventional diesel engines are widely used prime
movers worldwide owing to their high performance, robust
construction and versatility. The conversion of existing diesel
engines to operate with alternative fuels, such as hydrogen
could significantly reduce the fossil fuel requirements and
improve on the environmental stability. However, there are
many technical constraints, which limit the amount of
hydrogen that can be utilized in a diesel engine. Due to very
high auto-ignition temperature of hydrogen, it cannot be
solely used as a fuel in a diesel engine [4]. Nevertheless, based
on the dual fuel (DF) technology, hydrogen can be utilized in a
diesel engine as the main fuel, whereas, small amount of
diesel is needed as the pilot fuel [4]. This technique has the
drawback that some amount of fossil fuel is still needed,
which becomes significantly high at higher loads with
hydrogen as the gaseous main fuel. In this context, a renew-
able DF technology can be realized with the use of biodiesel in
place of diesel as the pilot fuel. The advantage of biodiesel is
that it requires no or fewer modifications in conventional
diesel engine and can also be used in any ratio with diesel.
Sahoo et al. [5] studied comparative performance and emis-
sion features of three different biodiesels namely, Jatropha
curcas, Pongamia pinnata and Calophyllum inophyllum using
various blends (Diesel, B20, B50 and B100) with conventional
diesel. They found highest power output with 50% Jatropha-
diesel blend, however brake specific fuel consumption
(BSFC) showed increasing trend with increase in biodiesel
percentage for all biodiesels. Chauhan et al. [6] showed that
Jatropha biodiesel and its blends with diesel can be used in
conventional diesel engine without any modifications in view
of comparable engine performance. It addition to that reduced
emissions of smoke, hydrocarbon (HC) and carbon monoxide
(CO) were observed with Jatropha biodiesel as compared to
diesel. In a similar study, Qi et al. [7] reported decreased CO
and smoke emissions with biodiesel as compared to diesel,
however, nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions were found to be
increased. Sayin and Gumus [8] studied the effect of
compression ratio and injection timing on engine perfor-
mance and emissions using biodiesel and diesel blends. The
increase in compression ratio and biodiesel blend in diesel
showed increased NOx emissions, while other emissions were
decreased. Besides, biodiesel has also been studied as pilot
fuel in DF mode of operations and has shown some interesting
characteristics. Ryu [9] investigated on biodiesel-compressed
natural gas (CNG) DF engine and found that biodiesel needed
optimization of injection timings to achieve better perfor-
mance. The advanced injection timing at low load and delayed
injection timing at high load showed improvement in the
engine performance. Tarabet et al. [10] found that eucalyptus
biodiesel as the pilot fuel in natural gas DF engine enhanced
the engine performance by improving combustion stability.
As a result of this, HC and CO emissions were also reduced
from DF engine, however remained higher as compared to
diesel single fuel operation. A combination of Jatropha bio-
diesel and synthetic biogas in DF mode has been investigated
by Luijten and Kerkhof [11] in a 12 kW diesel engine generator
with main focus on rural electrification. They found that a
thermal efficiency similar to conventional diesel engine can
be achieved at higher loads, however low load operations
showed loss in thermal efficiency. Verma et al. [12] studied the
effect of Jatropha biodiesel on biogas DF engine using energy
and exergy analyses. It was found that biodiesel showed
similar energy and exergy balance as that with the diesel in
biogas DF engine. In addition to that biodiesel as the pilot fuel
showed reductions in HC and CO emissions as compared to
diesel. Similarly, Debnath et al. [13] studied biodiesel (emul-
sified palm oil) and biogas in DF mode and found better effi-
ciency as compared to neat biodiesel (Jatropha oil). In another
study, Bora and Saha [14] analysed the effect of compression
ratio (CR) using rice bran biodiesel with biogas in DF mode.
The study was performed at three compression ratios of 17,
17.5 and 18 revealing improved thermal efficiency and lower
emissions at higher compression ratios from DF engine.
As a clean burning fuel, there has always been substantial
interest in the use of hydrogen in internal combustion engines
(ICEs) for improved performance and reduced emissions
through lean burning [4,15,16]. It has been reported that owing
to high diffusivity in air, hydrogen shows homogeneity of fuel-
air mixture and due to its high flame speed, gives improved
combustion [17e20]. Ouchikh et al. [21] investigated on
enrichment of natural gas with hydrogen for improved per-
formance and emission characteristics of a diesel-natural gas
DF engine. It was found that hydrogen addition improved the
combustion process by enhancing heat release rate, reduced
combustion duration and combustion stability. The
maximum efficiency of 32.5% was observed with 10%
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 5 ( 2 0 2 0 ) 5 5 7 7 e5 5 8 7
hydrogen enrichment at 70% engine load. Saravanan and
Nagarajan [22] studied the effect of hydrogen-air induction in
a single cylinder, 3.78 kW stationary diesel engine. They found
about 5% increase in brake thermal efficiency with 30%
hydrogen addition and more than 5 times decrease in NOx
emissions with 90% hydrogen enrichment at 70% engine load.
Shin et al. [23] found that hydrogen addition improved diesel
combustion in DF mode and led to increased power output.
Saravanan et al. [24] experimentally compared the hydrogen
supply methods of carburation and timed port injection in DF
combustion with diesel as the pilot fuel. It was found that port
injection technique offered 17% improvement in thermal ef-
ficiency along with lower HC and smoke emissions compared
to diesel alone. In another study, Boretti [25] proposed direct
injection of both the pilot and main fuels in diesel-hydrogen
DF engine. Based on semi-empirical combustion and injec-
tion models for direct injection DF engine, it was found that DF
engine could offer similar efficiency and better output as
compared to conventional diesel engine. An et al. [26] per-
formed numerical investigation to study the hydrogen assis-
ted biodiesel combustion in diesel engine. With the addition of
hydrogen, peak cylinder pressure and temperature were
increased leading to improved thermal efficiency. The emis-
sions of HC, CO and smoke were also reduced with hydrogen
addition as compared to biodiesel alone. Jabbr and Koylu [27]
found similar results of higher thermal efficiency and
reduced smoke emissions with increase in hydrogen energy
share in diesel-hydrogen DF engine. Deb et al. [28] experi-
mentally studied the effect of increasing hydrogen energy
share in four-stroke, direct injection diesel engine in DF mode
with diesel. The engine performance and emission charac-
teristics were studied at fixed engine speed (1500 ± 10 rpm)
and peak power (5.2 kW) as hydrogen energy share was
increased up to 42%. It was found that increase in hydrogen
energy share also increased brake thermal efficiency and up to
15.80% improvement was recorded with 42% hydrogen energy
share.
However, there are some technical issues associated with
utilization of hydrogen in DF mode such as low pilot fuel
substitution at high load, sever engine knock and high NOx
emissions. Chintala and Subramanian [29] found that
maximum amount of hydrogen addition in a diesel engine
under DF mode was limited (~18.8% by energy) due to sharp
increase in rate of pressure rise and onset of knocking. Nag
et al. [30] have shown that increasing the hydrogen energy
share in diesel-hydrogen DF engine leads to high vibrations
and knocking tendency towards higher loads. Korakianitis
et al. [31] studied hydrogen-diesel DF combustion in a single-
cylinder four-stroke diesel engine. They found significant in-
crease in NOx emissions with DF mode over standard single
fuel diesel operation due to rapid combustion with hydrogen
as the main fuel. Talibi et al. [32] found that there was a
threshold temperature above which NOx emissions were
drastically increased with hydrogen addition and remained
higher compared to diesel only combustion. They also found
that due to hydrogen-air combustion, the peak in-cylinder
NOx formations were higher between the diesel sprays as
compared to that within the diesel spray. Similar results of
high NOx emissions have been reported by other researchers
[4,33e35].
5579
Based on the review of available literature, it was found
that significant interest has been shown to study the utiliza-
tion of hydrogen in DF engine, however issues of low pilot fuel
substitution and high NOx emissions remain as the major
challenges. In the present work, biodiesel-hydrogen dual fuel
operation of diesel engine has been experimentally investi-
gated. It has been shown that the biodiesel-hydrogen dual fuel
engine could not only achieves the renewable nature but also
improves the hydrogen utilization in diesel engines. In addi-
tion to that effect of EGR has also been investigated, which
shows a promising technique to curb NOx emissions.
Experimental test setup
The experimental test setup consists of a four-stroke, single-
cylinder conventional diesel engine, which is modified to
operate in dual fuel (DF) mode with hydrogen as the main
gaseous fuel. Major technical specifications of the diesel
engine are listed in Table 1. The engine has a semi-spherical
bowl shaped combustion chamber and flat head mounted
Bosch diesel injector. Engine crank shaft is coupled with an
AC dynamometer, which is connected to an electric load
panel. Electric load panel consists of a combination of elec-
tric loads, load switches, measuring devices (voltmeter,
ampere meter and wattmeter) and miniature circuit brea-
kers. Some hardware modifications are performed at the
engine intake system to supply gaseous fuel for DF mode of
operation. A peak and hold type hydrogen injector (Quantum
110764) is installed in the intake manifold close to intake
valve for controlled supply of hydrogen. Hydrogen injector is
electronically controlled by an electronic control unit (ECU)
and in-house computer code to govern the hydrogen flow
rate. Chemical-grade hydrogen (purity 99.9%) is stored in
high pressure cylinders (200 bar) and delivered at low pres-
sure by a two-way pressure regulator installed after high
pressure cylinders. Some safety devices such as non-return
valve, control valve, flame trap and pressure relief valve
are also used in series with the gas supply system. The flame
trap not only serves as a safety device against backfire but
also equalizes gas pressure in deliver line. Proper gas piping
arrangements are used to supply hydrogen at hydrogen
injector and a digital gas flow meter (Proline Promass 80A) is
used to measure its flow rate. The air management system
consist of an air filter, Coriolis type air flow meter and air box
in the upstream of intake manifold. The exhaust side of
Table 1 e Technical specifications of the experimental
test engine.
Parameters Technical specifications
Make & model Kirloskar TAF1
Type Single cylinder, four-stroke
Bore & stroke 87.5  110 mm
Swept volume 661 cm3
Compression ratio 17.5:1
Rated brake power 6 bhp/4.4 kW
Rated speed 1500 rpm
Standard fuel injection timing 23.0  BTDC
5580 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 5 ( 2 0 2 0 ) 5 5 7 7 e5 5 8 7

engine is also modified to incorporate exhaust gas recircu- studied and comparison has been made based on both
lation (EGR) system on selective basis. performance and emission characteristics of the engine.
A pipe-in-pipe, counter flow heat exchanger is designed Properties of various fuels used in this work (diesel, Jatro-
taking into account the maximum flow rate and temperature pha biodiesel and hydrogen) are given in Table 2. The en-
of exhaust gases. A cold water supply system is used to keep gine operations were studied with varying engine load from
the EGR temperature in range of 35 ± 2  C with variable loads. brake mean effective pressure (BMEP) of 1.16 bar (~20%
A gas mixture is installed at the intake manifold for supply of engine load) to BMEP of 5.32 bar (~100% engine load) for
EGR at the inlet of engine and its flow rate is measured with performance parameters of pilot fuel substitution, brake
the help of a differential U-tube manometer. A schematic di- thermal efficiency and specific energy consumption. The
agram of the complete experimental setup is shown in Fig. 1. A emission parameters of HC, CO, NOx and smoke emission
provision has also been made for exhaust gas sampling and were studied for the above operating conditions. In addi-
characterisation from diesel and DF operations of the engine. tion to that the effect of EGR with biodiesel as the pilot fuel
The engine exhaust is analysed for HC, CO, and NOx emissions and hydrogen as the main fuel was also studied and
using AVL DIGAS exhaust gas analyser. In the analyser, HC compared with both diesel and biodiesel without EGR
and CO emission measurements are based on non-dispersive
infrared (NDIR) technique, whereas NOx emissions are
measured using electrochemical technique. Smoke emission
is also measured in this work with the help of AVL 437 smoke Table 2 e Fuel properties of diesel, biodiesel and
meter based on smoke opacity measurements. hydrogen.
Properties Diesel Biodiesel Hydrogen
Specific gravity 0.84 0.92 0.0696
Experimental methodology and test matrix Viscosity (cSt) at 40  C 2.44e2.7 4.32 e
Lower heating value (MJ/kg) 43 38.5 120
In this work, DF operation of a diesel engine is study using Flash point ( C) 35 174 e
diesel as the pilot and hydrogen as the main fuel. The ef- Auto ignition temperature ( C) 210 <210 585
Flammability Range (% v/v) 0.6e5.5 e 4e75
fect of replacing diesel with biodiesel as the pilot fuel is

Fig. 1 e Schematic diagram of experimental test setup.

 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 5 ( 2 0 2 0 ) 5 5 7 7 e5 5 8 7 5581

conditions. The engine operations were studied for three

EGR percentages of 5%, 10% and 15% with varying engine
loads. The text matrix for different cases studied in this
work is described in Table 3. In this work, EGR percentage
is defined as the ratio of mass of EGR gas recirculated to
total intake mass inducted in the engine.
 
m_ EGR
EGRð%Þ ¼  100 (1)
m_ in

where, mass flow rate of total intake charge is m_ in and mass

flow rate of EGR is m_ EGR .
The engine was started with conventional diesel direct fuel
injection and single fuel (SF) operation of the engine. Subse-
quently, hydrogen flow was slowly increased in the intake
manifold which led to slight increase in engine speed. Engine
governing system controlled the engine speed by decreasing
the pilot fuel supply and therefore some amount of diesel was
replaced by hydrogen. In this way, hydrogen supply was
progressively increased to a point where further supply led to
engine combustion anomalies such as misfire, backfire or
engine knock. Such point is defined as the point of maximum
pilot fuel substitution, Sð%Þ and given by the ratio of decrease
in pilot fuel flow rate between SF and DF modes to the flow
rate in SF mode:
 
m_ SF  m_ DF
Sð%Þ ¼  100
m_ SF
where, m_ SF is the pilot fuel flow rate in single fuel operation
and m_ DF is the pilot fuel flow rate in dual fuel operation.
In case of biodiesel as the pilot fuel, diesel tank was
replaced by Jatropha biodiesel tank, while the test methodol-
ogy remains same as stated above. In case of engine opera-
tions with EGR, an EGR control valve was used to regulate EGR
flow rate and external water circulation was used to maintain
EGR temperature. The EGR cases were studied at varying en-
gine loads and maximum pilot fuel substitution conditions by
supplying different EGR percentages of 5%, 10% and 15%.
Fig. 2 e Variation of pilot fuel flow rate with engine load for
diesel and DF operations.
loads where similar fuel flow requirements were observed in
DF modes. However, at higher loads some increase in bio-
diesel flow rate was observed as compared to diesel DF oper-
ations. It could be due to lower calorific value of biodiesel
compared to diesel, therefore more amount of fuel is required
to supply the same amount of energy.
Variation in pilot fuel substitution with engine loads for
diesel DF and biodiesel DF operations are shown in Fig. 3. It
was found that at low to medium loads, biodiesel showed
(2) better pilot fuel substitution compared to diesel as the pilot
fuel. Pilot fuel substitution was increased from 76% with diesel
to 80% with biodiesel at BEMP of 1.16 bar. However, both the
pilot fuels showed decreasing substitution with increase in
engine loads. In addition to that differences in substitution
percentages were also decreased with increase in engine
loads. Significant decrease in pilot fuel substitution was

Results and discussion

The variations in pilot fuel (diesel and biodiesel) flow rates in

single and DF operations of diesel engine are shown in Fig. 2. A
clear difference can be observed between the fuel flow rates of
single and DF operations. DF operations (both diesel and bio-
diesel) showed lower pilot fuel flow rates because some of the
liquid fuel was replaced by hydrogen as the main fuel. The
pilot fuel flow rates showed increasing trend with engine load
in both single and DF operations due to higher energy demand
at high loads. Biodiesel as the pilot fuel showed great
Fig. 3 e Variation of pilot fuel substitution with engine load
replacement potential to diesel, especially at lower engine
for diesel DF and biodiesel DF operations.

Table 3 e Test matrix for the experimental analysis.

Test case Main fuel Pilot fuel Test conditions Performance Emission
Without EGR Hydrogen Diesel/Biodiesel Varying load BMEP from Pilot fuel substitution, brake thermal NOx, HC, CO and Smoke
1.16 bar to 5.32 bar efficiency and specific energy consumption
With EGR Hydrogen Diesel/Biodiesel Varying load BMEP from Substitution ratio, brake thermal NOx, HC, CO and Smoke
(5%e15%) 1.16 bar to 5.32 bar efficiency and specific energy consumption
5582 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 5 ( 2 0 2 0 ) 5 5 7 7 e5 5 8 7
Fig. 4 e Energy share of pilot and main fuels with engine
load for diesel DF and biodiesel DF operations.
observed across the engine loads with hydrogen as the main
fuel in DF operations both with diesel and biodiesel. At high
loads, hydrogen flow rate was limited by the occurrence of
engine knock leading to lower pilot fuel substitutions. The
flame speed of hydrogen is higher than both diesel and bio-
diesel and hence combustion of hydrogen is much faster in
the combustion chamber [22,36]. With the high compression
ratio of a diesel engine, hydrogen-air mixture burns very
rapidly causing sudden increase in rate of pressure rise. The
condition of high load also supports this situation and a
comparatively rich fuel-air mixture becomes easy to ignite
Fig. 5 e Variation of brake thermal efficiency with the
engine load for diesel and DF operations.
Fig. 6 e Variation of specific energy consumption with
engine load for diesel and DF operations.
Fig. 7 e Variation of NOx emissions with engine load for
diesel and DF operations.
and propagate at high velocity in the combustion chamber.
This phenomenon leads to engine knock and limit the amount
of hydrogen at high load in DF engine operation. Energy share
of pilot and main fuels with engine load for diesel DF and
biodiesel DF operations are shown in Fig. 4, which indicates
significant decrease in energy share of main fuel at high loads.
With hydrogen DF engine, similar engine performance can
be achieved that with the single fuel diesel engine operations.
The variation in brake thermal efficiency with the engine
loads is illustrated in Fig. 5 for diesel, diesel-hydrogen DF and
biodiesel-hydrogen DF operations. It was found that at low
Fig. 8 e Variation of HC emissions with engine load for
diesel and DF operations.
Fig. 9 e Variation of CO emissions with engine load for
diesel and DF operations.
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 5 ( 2 0 2 0 ) 5 5 7 7 e5 5 8 7 5583

efficiency. Perhaps, lower calorific value of biodiesel causes

Fig. 10 e Variation of smoke emission with engine load for
diesel and DF operations.
load, both the DF operations showed slight loss in brake
thermal efficiency. In medium loads, hydrogen DF engine
showed similar efficiency compared to diesel single fuel
operation. At full load, diesel-hydrogen DF operation showed
higher efficiency than the diesel only combustion. The brake
thermal efficiencies of 30.3%, 31.8% and 29.9% were observed
with diesel, diesel-hydrogen DF and biodiesel-hydrogen DF
operations respectively. Addition of hydrogen in DF mode lead
to better air-fuel homogeneity and also improves the com-
bustion. Therefore, at high loads higher brake thermal effi-
ciency was observed with the hydrogen DF operation.
However, at low loads due to very lean mixture, combustion
rates were relatively slower and led to lower brake thermal
slight decrease in efficiency with biodiesel as the pilot fuel.
Nevertheless, even with lower energy content, biodiesel along
with around 25% of hydrogen in DF mode achieved specific
energy consumption closer to that with the diesel engine at
high loads. Variation of specific energy consumption with
engine load for diesel and DF operations is shown in Fig. 6.
The variations in engine emissions from diesel and DF
operations are shown with the engine loads in Figs. 7e10. The
advantages of hydrogen DF engine are clearly evident from
the emission results where significant reductions are
observed. The trend of NOx emissions with engine load (Fig. 7)
showed considerably lower emissions from hydrogen DF op-
erations at low to medium loads. At low loads, lean combus-
tible mixture burns at slower rate and hence relatively lower
combustion temperature leads to low NOx emissions. Bio-
diesel as the pilot fuel showed slight increase in NOx emis-
sions compared to diesel in DF mode. Biodiesel contains
oxygen in its molecular structure and therefore shows higher
oxidation rates as compared to diesel. The higher combustion
rate with biodiesel might lead to slightly higher NOx emis-
sions. This effect can be clearly seen at high load conditions,
where DF operations showed sharp rise in NOx emissions and
even exceeded diesel operation. Rich fuel-air mixture sup-
ported by fast combustion rate of hydrogen leads to high
combustion temperature and hence high NOx emissions at
high loads. Therefore, hydrogen DF operation needs some NOx
control mechanism especially at high load applications. On
the other hand, reduction in HC emission throughout the

Fig. 11 e Variation of pilot fuel substitution with engine load for different EGR conditions.

Table 4 e Energy shares of pilot and main fuels with engine load for biodiesel-hydrogen DF operations with EGR.
BMEP (bar) No EGR 5% EGR 10% EGR 15% EGR
Pilot (%) Main (%) Pilot (%) Main (%) Pilot (%) Main (%) Pilot (%) Main (%)
1.16 19.30 80.70 20.35 79.65 19.75 80.25 20.50 79.50
2.47 24.29 75.71 25.75 74.25 27.26 72.74 27.91 72.09
3.68 42.81 57.19 40.74 59.26 38.02 61.98 39.60 60.40
4.72 61.60 38.40 56.81 43.19 52.51 47.49 52.40 47.60
5.33 75.55 24.45 72.54 27.46 67.47 32.53 67.41 32.59
5584 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 5 ( 2 0 2 0 ) 5 5 7 7 e5 5 8 7
Fig. 12 e Variation of brake thermal efficiency with engine
load for different EGR conditions.
engine loads were observed with hydrogen DF operations. It
was also noticed that biodiesel gave slightly lower HC emis-
sion compared to diesel as the pilot fuel. It can be reasoned
that DF combustion was improved with hydrogen over single
fuel diesel only combustion that led to improvement in HC
emissions. It was possible to reduce and maintain HC emis-
sions in the range of 0.1 g/kW h and 0.2 g/kW h throughout the
engine loads.
Variation of CO emissions with engine load for diesel and
DF operations is shown in Fig. 9. Significant reductions in CO
emissions were recorded with hydrogen DF operations,
especially at high loads. In IC engines, CO are formed due to
partial oxidation at fuel rich regions [37]. At high load condi-
tions, overall rich fuel-air mixture provides the favourable
conditions for CO formation and hence it increases with the
engine load. However, due to partially premixed and relatively
lean fuel-air mixture, CO formation and emission are reduced
with DF operation. In addition to that biodiesel showed
advantage over diesel with lower CO emissions. Perhaps,
improved combusion with biodiesel as the pilot fuel helps to
reduce CO emissions during later part of engine strokes.
Variation of smoke emissions with engine load for diesel and
DF operations is shown in Fig. 10. It can be seen that DF
operation has the ability to limit smoke emission from diesel
Fig. 13 e Variation of NOx emissions with engine load for
different EGR conditions.
Fig. 14 e Variation of HC emissions with engine load for
different EGR conditions.
engine. This is because of premixed gaseous fuel and air
mixture that replaces liquid pilot fuel and hence produces
lesser smoke emissions. Furthermore, in case of hydrogen as
the gaseous fuel, smoke emission is inherently reduced due to
its carbon-free nature. In addition to that hydrogen also helps
in reducing the smoke emission by producing high tempera-
ture that helps in oxidation of soot particles. It was observed
that biodiesel also helps in reducing smoke emission cam-
pared to diesel as the pilot fuel.
Addition of EGR has shown significant improvement in
pilot fuel substitution with biodiesel-hydrogen DF operations.
Variation of pilot fuel substitution with engine load for
different EGR percentages is shown in Fig. 11. The bar graph
shows that increase in pilot fuel substitution is higher at high
loads compared to low loads. This effect is particularly ad-
vantageous with hydrogen DF engines as they have shown
very low substitutions and energy share of main fuel at high
loads as shown in Table 4. With 10% EGR, pilot fuel substitu-
tion was increased from 25% to 31% with biodiesel as the pilot
fuel. This could be due to dilution effect of EGR which lowers
the combustion rate and therefore reduces peak cylinder
pressure. Consequently, it was possible to extend the knock
limit of engine towards higher hydrogen fractions in DF mode.
Fig. 15 e Variation of CO emissions with engine load for
different EGR conditions.
 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 5 ( 2 0 2 0 ) 5 5 7 7 e5 5 8 7 5585

for different EGR conditions is shown in Fig. 16. The smoke

emissions were increased with addition of EGR and also with
the engine load. The lower in-cylinder temperature caused by
EGR addition also reduced smoke oxidation potential. There-
fore, EGR addition in hydrogen DF engines is also limited by
the increased smoke emissions.

Conclusions

A combination of biodiesel and hydrogen in dual fuel (DF)

engine as a renewable alternative to diesel is suggested in the
present article. The experimental study was performed in a
single cylinder diesel engine which was modified to work in
DF mode with hydrogen as the main fuel and Jatropha bio-
Fig. 16 e Variation of smoke emissions with engine load diesel as the pilot fuel. The engine operations were studied for
for different EGR conditions. performance and emissions characteristics with varying en-
gine loads at the maximum pilot fuel substitution conditions.
In addition to that exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) was studied
It was also observed that pilot fuel substitution started
in the biodiesel-hydrogen DF engine as a technique to improve
decreasing with further addition of EGR. This is due to the fact
pilot fuel substitution and control NOx emissions. Following
that addition of EGR reduces the combustible quality of
conclusion are drawn based on the results of present study:
mixture and hence ignition of charge becomes difficult. As a
result, slightly higher amount of pilot fuel is needed and hence
1. Use of biodiesel in place of diesel showed higher hydrogen
pilot fuel substitution could be decreased. Therefore, effect of
utilization at low load. Pilot fuel substitution was increased
EGR addition is governed by the combined effect of above
from 76% with diesel to 80% with biodiesel at BEMP of
discussed phenomena.
1.16 bar. However, substitution remained low at high loads
Variation of brake thermal efficiency with engine loads is
with both diesel and biodiesel.
illustrated in Fig. 12. It can be seen that effect of EGR is more
2. The brake thermal efficiency remained similar with bio-
pronounced at higher engine loads as compared to low loads.
diesel and diesel as the pilot fuels throughout the engine
This is because addition of EGR not only dilutes the combus-
load. Diesel-hydrogen DF showed highest efficiency,
tible mixture, but also replaces some amount of air in the
whereas biodiesel-hydrogen DF and diesel single fuel
intake manifold. This effect was nominal at low load due to
modes showed similar efficiencies at high loads.
overall lean mixture, however dominated at high loads. Brake
3. On the emissions side, biodiesel showed significant re-
thermal efficiencies of 29.6%, 29.1% and 28.1% were calculated
ductions in HC, CO and smoke emissions, however NOx
for 5%, 10% and 15% EGR conditions compared to 29.9% with
emissions were increased at high load as compared to
no EGR.
diesel engine.
The effects of EGR addition on emissions of DF engine are
4. Addition of EGR with biodiesel-hydrogen DF mode showed
shown from Figs. 13e16. It can been seen from Fig. 13 that it is
the potential to further increase hydrogen utilization along
possible to significantly reduce NOx emissions using EGR from
with lower NOx emissions at high load.
DF engines. In addition to that higher levels of reduction in
5. At full load, highest substitution of 31% (energy share of
NOx emissions were observed at high load, which are the re-
pilot fuel ¼ 67.5% and main fuel ¼ 32.5%) was observed
gions of higher emissions with DF engines. NOx emissions
with 10% EGR, which was accompanied by slight loss in
were reduce by 47.6%, 60.0%, 74.5% with 5%, 10% and 15% EGRs
brake thermal efficiency (~0.8%).
respectively at full load condition. Addition of EGR reduces the
6. NOx emissions were reduce by 47.6%, 60.0%, 74.5% with 5%,
rate of combustion and hence lowers the in-cylinder tem-
10% and 15% EGRs respectively at full load condition.
perature which leads to lower NOx emissions. Variation of HC
7. A combination of with and without EGR operations can be
emissions with engine load for different EGR conditions is
employed at low and high loads respectively for improved
shown in Fig. 14. Addition of EGR showed negative impact on
performance and emissions in biodiesel-hydrogen DF en-
HC emissions which increased with higher percentages of
gine. Use of biodiesel in DF mode with hydrogen as the
EGR. The dilution effect of EGR reduces flame propagation
main fuel is an excellent alternative with lower emissions
speed that causes poor combustion efficiency. On the other
and performance at par with the diesel engine.
hand, CO emission did not shows a clear trend with increase
in EGR percentage. Variation of CO emissions with engine load
for different EGR conditions is shown in Fig. 15. Biodiesel-
hydrogen DF operation showed slightly lower CO emission
up to 10% EGR at low loads. However at high loads, CO emis- Acknowledgement
sions remained slightly higher than the no EGR case. Whereas,
15% EGR case showed higher CO emissions throughout the We would like to acknowledge the support of Council of Sci-
engine loads. Variation of smoke emissions with engine load entific & Industrial Research (CSIR), India. Research facility
5586 i n t e r n a t i o n a l j o u r n a l o f h y d r o g e n e n e r g y 4 5 ( 2 0 2 0 ) 5 5 7 7 e5 5 8 7

provided by Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD), India [10] Tarabet L, Loubar K, Lounici MS, Khiari K, Belmrabet T,
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