Shuli Zhao

Hydrogen-Enriched Compressed Natural Gas as a Fuel for Engines

Natural gas is often thought of as the most promising alternative fuels for vehicles. Natural gas is a much more abundant fuel than petroleum and is often described as the cleanest of the fossil fuels, producing significantly less carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, and nonmethane hydrocarbon emissions than gasoline; and when compared to diesel it nearly eliminates the particulate matter. Other advantages of natural gas include a high H/C ratio and a high research octane number (RON) causing the exhaust to be clean and allowing for high anti-knocking properties. Hydrogen is the most abundant element on earth, and is often thought of as the ideal alternative fuel. However, the current infrastructure does not support hydrogen as a wide-spread fuel. In order to expand the role of hydrogen in the near term, one option is to use hydrogen for transportation by mixing it with natural gas and use it for use in ICE engines. This new blended fuel is known as HCNG, or hythane, for which the use will create a basic infrastructure for the use of hydrogen in the future.