international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx

Available online at www.sciencedirect.com

ScienceDirect

journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/he

Effect of direct injection of small amounts of

ethanol on port-injected hydrogen internal
combustion engines

Gu Xin, Changwei Ji*, Shuofeng Wang, Hao Meng, Chen Hong, Jinxin Yang
College of Energy and Power Engineering, Beijing Lab of New Energy Vehicles and Key Lab of Regional Air Pollution
Control, Beijing University of Technology, Beijing, 100124, PR China

highlights graphical abstract

Proposed ethanol-controlled
hydrogen engine backfire strategy.

Studied the effect of ethanol addi-
tion on hydrogen engines.

The addition of ethanol increases
CA0-10 and CA10-90.

The addition of ethanol improves
engine BMEP and ITE.

The addition of ethanol reduces
NOx emissions from hydrogen
engines.

article info abstract

Article history: Hydrogen is a renewable fuel with excellent combustion characteristics. However, the
Received 7 June 2023 direct use of hydrogen in existing engines faces obstacles such as abnormal combustion
Received in revised form and high NOx emissions. This study proposes a strategy for controlling the combustion and
16 August 2023 emissions performance of a port-injection (PI) hydrogen internal combustion engine using
Accepted 28 September 2023 ethanol direct injection (DI). The test conditions are 1000 rpm, 1500 rpm, and 2000 rpm
Available online xxx respectively, the excess air coefficient is 1, 1.5, and 2, and 3%, 6%, and 9% ethanol is added.
The results showed that the addition of ethanol can significantly reduce the pressure rise
Keywords: rate of the hydrogen engine and prolong CA0-10 and CA10-90. The addition of ethanol can
Engine promote the BMEP and BTE of the hydrogen engine. The addition of ethanol can reduce
Hydrogen NOx emissions under lean burn conditions by 18%. The disadvantage is that the addition of
Ethanol ethanol increases the hydrocarbon emissions of hydrogen engines by about 50%, but the

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: chwji@bjut.edu.cn (C. Ji).
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2023.09.300
0360-3199/© 2023 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Please cite this article as: Xin G et al., Effect of direct injection of small amounts of ethanol on port-injected hydrogen internal com-
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2 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx

Combustion total amount is less. After the addition of ethanol, the flashback phenomenon of the
Emissions hydrogen engine was significantly improved.
© 2023 Hydrogen Energy Publications LLC. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

The flame propagation speed of hydrogen has a large

1. Introduction
With the rapid spread of automobiles, fossil energy con-
sumption is increasing, and with it [1], carbon dioxide emis-
sions are increasing, leading to the emergence of the
greenhouse effect [2]. To achieve a sustainable society, the
concept of “carbon neutrality” has been proposed [3], and the
use of renewable, zero-carbon fuels is an option [4,5]. To meet
society's demand for low carbon and sustainable development
[5], renewable fuels have become an alternative option [6],
among which hydrogen is of great interest because of its high
energy density and no carbon emissions [7]. Hydrogen has
high octane number [8], fast flame propagation [9], and a wide
flammable limit [3], and its combustion products are only NOx
and do not produce HC and soot [10], etc. Therefore, it attracts
wide interest from researchers.
Application of hydrogen in internal combustion engines,
there are two types of applications [6], one is as an additive
[11], mainly used to promote the combustion rate of the main
fuel and widen the combustible limit [12]. The other is used as
a single fuel [13]. For example, the use of hydrogen in PFI en-
gines can improve thermal efficiency and reduce carbon
emissions compared to gasoline engines [10].
However, there are still some obstacles to using
hydrogen as a single fuel, especially in PFI engines, such as
backfiring [11].
The combustion characteristics of hydrogen are necessary
to cause a hydrogen internal combustion engine to backfire
[14].Hydrogen has an extremely wide flammable limit and a
much smaller minimum ignition energy than fuels such as
gasoline. In addition, the quenching distance of hydrogen is
also smaller, which may lead to continuous combustion in the
gap or even secondary combustion after the intake valve is
opened in some specific operating conditions (large ratio EGR
or ultra-lean burn) [11].
Dhyani et al. [15] analyzed that there are two different
backfiring mechanisms: (1) during intake, the flame propa-
gates from the cylinder to the intake manifold and ignites the
hydrogen-air mixture that does not enter the cylinder; (2)
when the intake valve opens, the high-temperature residual
exhaust gas flows back into the intake manifold and ignites
the fresh hydrogen-air mixture. Habib Gürbüz et al. [16e19]
conducted detailed and meaningful research on hydrogen
engines. They found that the equivalence ratio has a signifi-
cant impact on the backfiring of hydrogen engines. The
equivalence ratio of 0.6 is a boundary, and the risk of back-
firing increases after exceeding 0.6 [20,21].
Severe backfire events can lead to unacceptable damage to
engine components, so the occurrence of backfires must be
effectively monitored and controlled [22].
relationship with the excess air coefficient [23]. The wide
combustible limit of hydrogen gas allows it to be operated in a
lean burn. Therefore, the use of excess air dilutes the
combustible gas and cools the in-cylinder temperature [24],
which in turn allows for NOx emission control [25].
Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) technology [26,27] is widely
used in modern engines to reduce the in-cylinder temperature
mainly through the higher specific heat capacity of the
exhaust gas [28]. The exhaust gas of a hydrogen-fueled engine
is mainly water vapor and N2. Therefore, it is divided into hot
EGR and cold EGR according to whether or not the exhaust gas
introduced into the cylinder is cooled. The cold EGR of a
hydrogen internal combustion engine mainly contains N2 [29],
which has a small specific heat capacity and is difficult to
achieve the expected effect [30], and the condensation of
water vapor may corrode the engine parts and weaken the
engine life [31]. The hot EGR gas contains H2O with a high
specific heat capacity, which reduces the combustion rate of
the in-cylinder mixture [32].
Water injection is a method of controlling the combustion
temperature in the cylinder, which is used to control the
production of NOx [23,30,33]. Xu [34] et al. studied the effect of
in-cylinder water injection on the combustion and emission
characteristics of a PFI hydrogen-fueled engine. The results
showed that water injection into the combustion chamber
reduced the combustion rate of the hydrogen/air mixture and
reduced NOx emissions. However, water injection into the
cylinder may lead to wet walls and some water entering the oil
sump may lead to oil emulsification, which has a greater
impact on engine life.
Another strategy is to add combustion inhibitors.
Ammonia is a renewable zero-carbon fuel with the opposite
combustion characteristics of hydrogen [35], with a slow burn
rate and high ignition energy. Ji et al. [10,36] studied the effect
of adding ammonia to a hydrogen-fueled engine. The results
show that even a small amount of ammonia addition will still
reduce the combustion speed of the mixture and reduce the
heat release rate. An important effect of adding ammonia is a
sudden increase in NOx emissions.
In summary, Researchers have explored the problems of
backfiring and NOx emissions in PFI hydrogen-fueled engines
[33,37] and have proposed some control strategies [27]. Fig. 1
summarizes the main current backfire control strategies.
Two aspects are addressed respectively, on the one hand, the
desire to reduce the in-cylinder heat load and the strategy
tools include dilution, EGR, and water injection. On the other
hand, is the suppression of the combustion characteristics of
the mixture, and this aspect includes the use of ammonia. In
this study, the use of ethanol is proposed to control the
backfire in hydrogen internal combustion engines.

Please cite this article as: Xin G et al., Effect of direct injection of small amounts of ethanol on port-injected hydrogen internal com-
bustion engines, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2023.09.300
 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx 3

Fig. 1 e Hydrogen internal combustion engine backfire mechanism and control strategyEthanol is a renewable fuel with a
higher octane number, latent heat of vaporization, and a faster combustion rate compared to gasoline [38]. Many scholars
have studied the effect of hydrogen addition on ethanol engines. Zhen [39,40] et al. investigated the effect of hydrogen
addition on ethanol engines using numerical calculations. The results showed that the addition of hydrogen increased
engine power and reduced CO, CO2, and HC emissions, but resulted in higher NOx emissions. Zhang [41] et al. investigated
the effect of hydrogen addition on the combustion and emission characteristics of ethanol engines under lean combustion
and fully open throttle conditions. It was found that hydrogen addition reduced the engine cycle variation, broadened the
combustion limit, and improved the thermal efficiency of the engine.

The combustion characteristics of hydrogen and ethanol and measured using a Horiba MXEA-730l. The models and
are shown in Table 3. Most studies have been conducted on errors of the various experimental devices are listed in Table 2.
the addition of hydrogen to ethanol engines [7,41], and few
have reported the effects of ethanol addition on hydrogen- 2.2. Operating conditions
fueled engines. The innovation of this study is to propose
the use of fuel injection strategy and fuel physical and To avoid throttling losses, the engine throttle was kept fully
chemical properties to use the latent heat of ethanol vapor- open in this study, the intake pressure was 100 kPa, and the
ization to lower the in-cylinder temperature and reduce the speed was stabilized at 1000 rpm. The injection pulse widths
reactivity of hydrogen, thus avoiding abnormal combustion of hydrogen and ethanol were controlled by the host com-
and reducing NOx emissions. puter to ensure that the overall excess air coefficient remained
within the control range. In this study, the engine operating
conditions and the amount of ethanol added are shown in
2. Experimental setup and procedure Table 4.
The aet and l is defined by the following equations (1)
2.1. Engine setup and (2).

 
In this study, a four-cylinder, four-stroke direct-injection aet ¼ Eet EH2 þ Eet (1)
gasoline engine was first modified by adding a section of
 
extension pipe to the intake manifold and setting up four-port l ¼ mair met AFst;et þ mH2 AFst;H2 (2)
injectors. To achieve a dual fuel mode, the original direct in- In the above equations, Eet and EH2 respectively represent
jection system was used to supply ethanol and the PFI was the energy provided by ethanol and hydrogen in a unit cycle.
used to supply hydrogen. A new electronic control unit (NECU) aet indicates the percentage of energy provided by ethanol.
was developed for this purpose to control both injection sys-
tems and the ignition system. Table 1 shows the basic pa-
rameters of the engine used for the experiments. Table 1 e Specifications of engines.
Fig. 2 shows a schematic diagram of the test stand. An eddy Definition Value
current dynamometer is used to control the engine speed and
Engine type Gamma
measure the torque. Hydrogen flow is measured by a Seven Number of cylinders 4
Star D07-19BM flow meter. The in-cylinder pressure is Bore  Stroke/mm 77  85.44
measured using a Kistler spark plug pressure transducer and Displacement volume/L 1.6
the data is transmitted to a KiBox combustion analyzer. En- Compression ratio 9.5:1
gine exhaust gas is measured using a Horiba MEXA-7100D. A Max. torque/Nm/rpm 265/1500-4500
Max. power/kW/rpm 132.4/5500
wide-field oxygen sensor is installed in the engine exhaust

Please cite this article as: Xin G et al., Effect of direct injection of small amounts of ethanol on port-injected hydrogen internal com-
bustion engines, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2023.09.300
4 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 2 e Test bench schematic diagram.

Table 2 e The experimental apparatus's accuracy and measuring range.

Parameter Uncertainty Instrument manufacturer Type
Engine speed  ± 1 rpm Power Link GW160
Torque  ± 0.28 Nm Power Link GW160
Ethanol consumption  ± 0.33 L/min Power Link FC2000
Hydrogen volumetric flow rate ±0.1L/min Seven star S4-33 A/MT
Air volumetric flow rate  ± 0.1 L/min Tociel 20 N060
Air-to-fuel ratio  ± 0.1 Horiba MEXA-730l
Crank angle position Measurement deviation: Kistler 2619
 ± 0.1  CA
Measurement sensitivity: 0.2  CA
Cylinder pressure < ± 0.3 bar Kistler 6117BCD17
NOx concentration Measurement deviation: Horiba MEXA
 ± 25 ppm 7100DEGR
Measurement sensitivity:
1 ppm

mair , met and mH2 are mass flow rates of air, Ethanol, and
Table 3 e The main characteristics of ethanol, hydrogen, Hydrogen, AFst;et and AFst;H2 are the stoichiometric air-to-fuel
and gasoline [42]. ratios of Ethanol and Hydrogen [2,43].
Ethanol Hydrogen The coefficient of variation indicating mean effective
pressure (COVIMEP) is defined as [37,44].
Formula C2H5OH H2
Storage Liquid Compressed sIMEP
COVIMEP ¼  100% (3)
Storage pressure (MPa) 0.1 70 IMEP
Density under storage conditions (kg.m3) 789 39
Lower Heating Value (LHV) (MJ.kg1) 26.8 120 where sIMEP is the standard deviation of IMEP and IMEP is the
air-fuel ratio by mass 9 34.6 mean value of the IMEP of a specific combustion cycle [45].
Auto-ignition temp. (K) 693 773e850 For data accuracy, 200 continuous cycles of pressure were
Minimum ignition energy/mJ 0.63 0.02 recorded at each operating point to consider the stability be-
Research Octane Number 110 >100
tween cycles, and other parameters used to analyze com-
Flammability limits in the air (vol.%) 4.3e19 4.7e75
bustion performance were averaged over 200 cycles.

Please cite this article as: Xin G et al., Effect of direct injection of small amounts of ethanol on port-injected hydrogen internal com-
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 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx 5

percentage of ethanol addition brings a reduced effect. The

Table 4 e Engine experiment setup conditions.
effect of ethanol addition on hydrogen combustion is more
Speed (n) Excess ethanol energy pronounced under stoichiometric conditions.
air factor (l) ratio(aet )
Fig. 4(b) shows the trend of the peak pressure rise rate with
1000 2 0; 3%; 6%; 9% increasing ethanol addition at three speeds. As can be seen in
1000 1.5 0; 3%; 6%; 9% Fig. 4(b), the peak pressure rise rate decreases as the amount
1000 1 0; 3%; 6%; 9%
of ethanol added gradually increases. In the pure hydrogen
1500 1 0; 3%; 6%; 9%
mode, the peak pressure rise rate at high speed is smaller than
2000 1 0; 3%; 6%; 9%
that at low speed. With the increase of ethanol addition, the
peak pressure rise rate at high speed gradually exceeds the
peak pressure rise rate at low speed.
2.3. Uncertainty analysis
The flame development period (CA0-10) and the rapid
combustion period (CA10-90) were calculated to show the
The uncertainty analysis of the measurement error is based
engine in-cylinder combustion process more clearly. CA0-10 is
on the Gaussian distribution, and the Gaussian distribution
defined as the crank angle (CA) in the duration between the
equation is as follows [46]:
ignition timing and 10% of the cumulative heat release, and
" 2  2  2 #1=2 CA10-90 is defined as the CA in the duration between 10% and
vR vR vR
DR ¼ DX1 þ DX2 þ/þ DXn (4) 90% of the cumulative heat release [49].
vX1 vX2 vXn
Fig. 5(a) shows the trend of CA0-10 with increasing addi-
The results of the uncertainty analysis calculated using tion of ethanol at different excess air ratios. From Fig. 5(a), it
Equation (4) depend on the accuracy of the test equipment, can be seen that for a specific ethanol addition ratio, the
and the specific results are shown in Table 5 below. ignition delay lengthens with increasing excess air because,
for a specific speed and manifold pressure, the fuel energy
supply decreases, which decreases the in-cylinder tempera-
3. Results and discussion ture leads to a further decrease in activation molecules, thus
reducing the frequency of activation molecule collisions and
The engine is run at various excess air ratios and ethanol reactions and prolonging CA0-10. As the percentage of
energy ratios, and the ignition timing is adjusted to the ethanol added increases, CA0-10 also shows a tendency to
maximum brake torque (MBT) ignition angle at each operating lengthen, which is consistent with the conclusions drawn in
condition. Fig. 3 shows the cylinder pressure at different Fig. 4 above. Because the ignition energy of ethanol is signif-
excess air ratios and alcohol blend ratios. The next section will icantly higher than that of hydrogen, higher ambient tem-
analyze the combustion performance of the engine in detail. perature, and more activation molecules are needed to guide
the chain reaction, and more ethanol addition leads to the
3.1. Combustion analysis decrease of in-cylinder temperature, which intensifies the
further extension of CA0-10.
The diffusion rate and flame propagation of hydrogen are Fig. 5(b) shows the trend of CA0-10 with increasing ethanol
extremely fast and its ignition energy is very low [47], so the addition at three speeds. It can be seen from Fig. 5(b) that CA0-
engine pressure rise rate is high when using hydrogen. 10 lengthens with the increasing percentage of ethanol addi-
Excessive pressure rise can lead to auto-ignition of the end gas tion at all three speeds.CA0-10 is influenced by the MIE of the
and even knock, which is unacceptable for the engine [48]. fuel, the homogeneity of the mixture, and the thermodynamic
Ethanol has a high ignition energy and a slow combustion rate atmosphere around the spark plug. The ethanol is injected and
compared to hydrogen. Therefore, the addition of ethanol will vaporized, which reduces the temperature in the cylinder. And
change the combustion rate of the mixture. the MIE of ethanol is significantly higher than that of hydrogen.
Fig. 4(a) shows the trend of peak pressure rise rate with Therefore the higher the percentage of ethanol added, the
increasing ethanol energy share for different excess air co- longer the CA0-10. This indicates that ethanol has a significant
efficients. It can be seen from Fig. 4(a) that the peak pressure effect on the ignition process of the hydrogen/air mixture.
rise rate shows a decreasing trend with increasing ethanol These findings are similar to previous studies by Xu et al. [34]
supply at all three excess air ratios. In the stoichiometric ratio, using water spray and ammonia doping by Ji et al. [50].
only a 3% ethanol addition can reduce the peak pressure rise Fig. 6(a) shows the trend of CA10-90 with the increasing
rate by 9.7%. Under the lean-burn condition, the same percentage of ethanol addition at different excess air ratios. It

Table 5 e Uncertainty analysis of test results.

Measuring Device Accuracy Parameters@2000 rpm WOT Error
Engine speed GW160 ±1 rpm 2000 rpm 0.1%
Engine torque GW160 ±0.28 Nm 76 Nm 0.7%
Cylinder pressure Kistler 6117B ±0.3 bar 63 bar 0.9%
H2 mass flow Seven star 0.1L/min 326 L/min 0.06%
S4-33 A/MT

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6 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 3 e (a) Effect of alcohol blending ratio on cylinder pressure under different excess air coefficients. (b) Effect of alcohol
blending ratio on cylinder pressure at different speeds.

can be seen from Fig. 6(a) that CA10-90 increases with the speed is slower, and the combustion speed of the mixture is
increase of the ethanol addition ratio. This trend is consistent affected as the percentage of ethanol increases.
with the trend of CA0-10 shown in Fig. 5(a). The ignition en- Fig. 6(b) shows the trend of CA10-90 with the increasing
ergy required for ethanol is higher and its flame propagation percentage of ethanol addition at three speeds. From

Please cite this article as: Xin G et al., Effect of direct injection of small amounts of ethanol on port-injected hydrogen internal com-
bustion engines, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2023.09.300
 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx 7

Fig. 4 e Variations of the PRRmax with Ethanol energy ratio.

Fig. 6(b), it can be found that similar to CA0-10, CA10-90
gradually lengthens with increasing ethanol addition ratio.
The ethanol injection changes the thermodynamic environ-
ment in the cylinder and alters the flow field of the mixture in
the cylinder. This leads to a possible weakening of the tur-
bulent flame with the addition of ethanol. Ethanol itself also
has a significantly slower flame propagation rate than
hydrogen. A variety of factors contribute to the prolongation
of CA10-90.
COVIMEP is generally denoted by the coefficient of variation
in IMEP [51]. This index is a key indicator for evaluating the
stability of engine operation and a reference for evaluating the
fuel combustion characteristics. So it is recommended and
adopted by many research reports [52].
The trend of COVIMEP with ethanol addition at different
excess air ratios is the opposite as seen in Fig. 7(a). Under lean
burn conditions, COVIMEP gradually increases with increasing
ethanol addition ratio, while under stoichiometric ratio con-
ditions, COVIMEP decreases with increasing ethanol addition
ratio. The reason for this phenomenon lies in the narrow
combustibility limit of ethanol, which makes it difficult to
burn stably under lean-burn conditions. Under stoichiometric

Please cite this article as: Xin G et al., Effect of direct injection of small amounts of ethanol on port-injected hydrogen internal com-
bustion engines, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2023.09.300
8 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 5 e CA0-10 versus Ethanol energy ratio.

Please cite this article as: Xin G et al., Effect of direct injection of small amounts of ethanol on port-injected hydrogen internal com-
bustion engines, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2023.09.300
 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx 9

Fig. 6 e CA10-90 versus Ethanol energy ratio.

Please cite this article as: Xin G et al., Effect of direct injection of small amounts of ethanol on port-injected hydrogen internal com-
bustion engines, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2023.09.300
10 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 7 e Coefficient of variation of the IMEP.

ratio conditions, the very low molecular mass of hydrogen is
unevenly distributed by the in-cylinder rolling flow and burns
extremely fast. However, in the case of ethanol addition, the
combustion rate of the mixture becomes slower and the
mixture is more uniformly distributed, thus improving the
combustion stability. This can indicate that the addition of
ethanol under stoichiometric ratio conditions not only
reduces the burning rate of hydrogen but also may provide
more stable combustion.
As shown in Fig. 7(b), the COVIMEP decreases and then in-
creases with the increase of ethanol addition at medium to
high speed. The flame speed propagation of hydrogen is
extremely fast, so it may lead to unstable combustion when
using a stoichiometric ratio of hydrogen/air mixture as fuel.

Please cite this article as: Xin G et al., Effect of direct injection of small amounts of ethanol on port-injected hydrogen internal com-
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 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx 11

Fig. 8 e Variations of BMEP with Ethanol energy ratio.

The addition of a small amount of ethanol reduces the com-
bustion rate of the combustible mixture, thus stabilizing the
flame plane propagation process. As the ethanol addition in-
creases, accompanied by a large amount of droplet vapor-
ization, the flame face propagation process is hindered and
the COVIMEP increases. At low rotational speed, COVIMEP
gradually decreased with the increase of ethanol addition.
This may be because more residual exhaust gas at low speed
promotes the vaporization process of ethanol. And the low
speed provides ample time to ensure the mixture is well
mixed and provides a homogeneous mixture suitable for
combustion. Ethanol itself carries oxygen atoms, which is a
characteristic of alcohol-based fuels.For a lean mixture, oxy-
gen is in excess, and the impact of ethanol's combustion
inertness exceeds the advantage of the oxygen carried by
ethanol, so adding ethanol under lean conditions deteriorates
combustion stability. But for the stoichiometric mixture, the
oxygen atoms of ethanol promote the combustion in the

Please cite this article as: Xin G et al., Effect of direct injection of small amounts of ethanol on port-injected hydrogen internal com-
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12 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 9 e Variations of BTE with Ethanol energy ratio.

combustion reaction, which may stabilize the combustion
compared with the condition without ethanol.
3.2. Engine performance
The brake means effective pressure (BMEP) is an indicator to
evaluate the working ability of the engine.
Fig. 8 (a) shows the trend of BMEP with increasing ethanol
addition at three excess air ratios. As can be seen in Fig. 8(a),
the BMEP tends to increase with increasing ethanol addition
under stoichiometric ratio conditions. However, under lean-
burn conditions, the trend of BMEP with increasing ethanol
addition is decreasing and then increases. The reason for this
trend is that ethanol has a narrow combustibility limit and
can be fully burned under stoichiometric conditions, which
increases the engine work capacity due to its higher volu-
metric energy density and the effect of lowering the cylinder
temperature and increasing the filling efficiency during

Please cite this article as: Xin G et al., Effect of direct injection of small amounts of ethanol on port-injected hydrogen internal com-
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 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx 13

vaporization. However, under lean-burn conditions, ethanol
may not burn completely, but its vaporization process further
weakens the in-cylinder temperature, so a small amount of
ethanol addition reduces the BMEP of the engine, and with the
further increase of ethanol addition, the energy provided by
its partial combustion gradually increases, thus increasing the
BMEP.
Fig. 8(b) shows the trend of BMEP with the increasing per-
centage of ethanol addition at three speeds. It can be seen
from Fig. 8(b) that the BMEP shows an increasing trend of
increasing with increasing ethanol addition at the stoichio-
metric ratio. The reason for this trend is that the amount of
hydrogen decreases with the increase of ethanol, which re-
duces the crowding of air and thus provides more air. On the
other hand, the vaporization of ethanol absorbs heat and re-
duces the cylinder temperature, which contributes to the in-
crease in volumetric efficiency. These two conveniences
together contribute to the increase in BMEP. As can be seen in

Fig. 10 e NOx emissions versus Ethanol energy ratio.

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14 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx

Fig. 8(b), the BMEP at low speed is significantly smaller than
that at medium and high speed. This is because of the pres-
ence of higher residual exhaust gas at low speeds, which re-
duces the volumetric efficiency of the cylinder and weakens
the engine's ability to do work at low speeds.
Brake thermal efficiency (BTE) is the main indicator to
evaluate engine economy. Fig. 9(a) shows the trend of BTE
with increasing ethanol addition for three excess air ratios.
From Fig. 9(a), it can be seen that for a specific ethanol
addition, BTE increases with increasing excess air factor,
which indicates that dilution is an effective way to increase
BTE. For any excess air ratio, the BTE showed an increasing
trend with increasing ethanol addition. This is mainly because
the vaporization process of ethanol decreases the in-cylinder
temperature and lowers the in-cylinder pressure, thus
reducing the negative compression work. On the other hand,
the higher in-cylinder temperature increases the heat ex-
change between the high-temperature gas and the cylinder

Fig. 11 e HC and CO emissions versus Ethanol energy ratio.

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 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx
wall and coolant, and the lower in-cylinder temperature re-
duces this cyclic heat process, thus reducing heat loss and
helping to increase the BTE. Thus, the addition of ethanol
helps to provide the BTE of the hydrogen-fueled engine.
Fig. 9(b) shows the trend of BTE at three speeds with the
increasing amount of ethanol addition. It can be seen from the
figure that the engine BTE increases with the increase of
ethanol addition at all three speeds. Although a small amount
of ethanol addition reduces the combustion rate of the
mixture, it reduces the heat transfer to the cylinder wall and
coolant because it lowers the in-cylinder temperature, which
is the main reason for the increase in BTE. For a given amount
of ethanol addition, the higher the speed, the higher the BTE of
the engine, and the increased combustion rate, which reduces
the heat transfer losses. The engine used in this study was
converted from a gasoline engine, so it is more suitable to
obtain a good economy at medium and high speeds. Targeted
studies are needed for the faster combustion rate and higher
adiabatic flame temperature of hydrogen.
3.3. Pollutant emissions
The in-cylinder temperature, excess air coefficient, and the
duration of high temperature determine the NOx production
of the engine [53]. In general, the higher the engine combus-
tion chamber temperature and the longer the duration, the
higher the NOx emissions produced [54]. NOx is the emission
that needs to be focused on for hydrogen-fueled engines.
There has been a clear trade-off between power output and
NOx emissions.
Fig. 10(a) shows the trend of NOx emissions with increasing
ethanol addition at different excess air ratios. First, for a given
ethanol addition, NOx emissions are highest for an excess air
factor of 1.5, followed by NOx emissions for stoichiometric
ratio conditions, and the lowest NOx emissions from more
dilute mixture combustion. On the other hand, the NOx
emission level decreases gradually with increasing ethanol
addition. The reason for this trend is that the highest NOx
emissions are produced at a higher oxygen concentration at
excess air ratios of 1.5 compared to the stoichiometric ratio
condition and a higher combustion temperature compared to
the excess air ratio of 2. Sun [37] et al. reached a similar
conclusion that NOx emissions are highest at the leaner
conditions. As the amount of ethanol added increases, the
vaporization of ethanol absorbs more heat and slows the
combustion rate, significantly lowering the in-cylinder tem-
perature and thus weakening the conditions for NOx genera-
tion. Ethanol addition has a significant effect on NOx pollutant
emissions, especially for l ¼ 1.5, for pure hydrogen fuel and
when 3%, 6% and 9% ethanol is added, NOx emissions drop
from 3072 to 2874, 2629 and 2497.
Fig. 10(b) shows the trend of NOx emission level with the
gradual increase of ethanol addition at different speeds. From
the figure, it can be seen that NOx emissions show a trend of
decreasing with increasing ethanol addition. However, the
NOx emission at high speed is still higher than that at low and
medium speed, probably because the engine thermal load
increases significantly under continuous high power output
and the coolant and oil temperatures continue to rise, thus
creating the thermodynamic conditions for NOx generation.
Please cite this article as: Xin G et al., Effect of direct injection of small amounts of ethanol on port-injected hydrogen internal com-
bustion engines, International Journal of Hydrogen Energy, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijhydene.2023.09.300
15
The addition of ethanol reduces the in-cylinder temperature
and lowers the combustion rate, and shortens the duration of
high temperature. Therefore, the addition of ethanol has a
certain effect on reducing NOx emissions.
Fig. 11(a) shows the trend of hydrocarbons with
increasing ethanol addition ratios at different excess ratios.
It can be seen from Fig. 11(a) that the HC emissions show an
increasing trend with increasing ethanol addition within l of
1.5. However, at l of 2, the HC emission increases sharply
with the increase of ethanol addition. This indicates
that under lean-burn conditions, higher ethanol additions
will cause an increase in incomplete combustion products.
This is mainly due to the narrow combustibility limit of
ethanol.
Fig. 11(b) shows the trend of CO emission levels with
increasing ethanol addition at the three speeds. From
Fig. 11(b), it can be seen that CO emissions increase with
increasing ethanol addition at both low and medium-high
speeds. For a specific amount of ethanol addition, there is
also a tendency to increase with the increase in speed. How-
ever, since only a small amount of ethanol is added, the
overall CO emissions are still small. It is known that CO is a
product of incomplete combustion, and since it is under
stoichiometric ratio conditions, incomplete combustion
products increase with increasing ethanol addition. The in-
crease in speed reduces the duration of combustion, which
also reduces the time for the complete conversion of CO to
CO2. Thus, for ethanol addition under high rpm conditions,
the generation and emission of incomplete combustion
products need to be considered.
4. Summary and conclusions
In this study, a method is proposed to control the combustion
and emission characteristics of a PFI hydrogen internal com-
bustion engine using a small amount of ethanol, where the
ethanol is supplied by a direct injection system. A direct-
injection gasoline engine was first modified to achieve dual
injection. Experimental studies were carried out at excess air
coefficients of 1, 1.5, and 2, respectively. The main results are
as follows.
(1) The addition of ethanol has a significant effect on the
combustion of hydrogen engines. For n ¼ 1000 rpm,
under the condition of stoichiometric ratio, adding 3%,
6%, and 9% ethanol reduces the maximum pressure
increase rate from 9.81 bar/CA to 8.86 bar/CA, 8.45 bar/
CA and 7.72 bar/CA. Under other working conditions,
the addition of ethanol also showed the same trend,
that is, with the increase of ethanol, the maximum
pressure increase rate decreased, and both CA0-10 and
CA10-90 showed an increasing trend.
(2) Under the condition of stoichiometric ratio, the addition
of ethanol increases the combustion stability, and
COVIMEP decreases, while under the condition of lean
burn, the addition of ethanol increases the COVIMEP.
(3) The effect of ethanol addition on engine performance is
small and generally shows an increasing trend. For
n ¼ 1000 rpm, l ¼ 1 condition, add 3%, 6%, and 9%
16 international journal of hydrogen energy xxx (xxxx) xxx
ethanol respectively, BMEP is 5.56 bar, 5.639 bar and
5.678 bar respectively.
(4) The addition of ethanol has a certain increase in the
thermal efficiency of the engine, especially under lean
burn conditions. For N ¼ 1000 rpm and l ¼ 2, when 3%,
6% and 9% ethanol are added, the BTE is 29.791%,30%
and 30.35%.
(5) Ethanol addition has a significant effect on NOx pollutant
emissions, especially for l ¼ 1.5, for pure hydrogen fuel
and when 3%, 6%, and 9% ethanol are added, NOx
emissions drop from 3072 to 2874, 2629,2497.
In the future, it is necessary to explore alcohol-infused
hydrogen engines under other conditions, such as intake
and exhaust valve timing, ethanol injection strategies, etc.
Declaration of competing interest
The authors declare that they have no known competing
financial interests or personal relationships that could have
appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (52276097 and 51976003).
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