1 AIR BOOSTER

1.1 HHO GENERATOR

Hydrogen fuel enhancement is the process of using a mixture of hydrogen and
conventional hydrocarbon fuel in an internal combustion engine, typically in a car or
truck, in an attempt to improve fuel economy, power output, or both. Methods include
hydrogen produced through an electrolysis, storing hydrogen on the vehicle as a second
fuel, or reforming conventional fuel into hydrogen with a catalyst.
There has been a great deal of research into fuel mixtures, such as gasoline and nitrous
oxide injection. Mixtures of hydrogen and hydrocarbons are no exception. These sources
say that contamination from exhaust gases has been reduced in all cases, and they suggest
that a small efficiency increases is sometimes possible.
The Hydrogen Generator is a piece of equipment which when installed correctly can
help to increase the performance of a car or motorcycle, or truck and reduces the
harmful emissions dramatically. It does this by using some current from the cars battery
and alternator to fracture water into a mixture of hydrogen and oxygen gasses called hho
hydroxy gas which is then added to the air which is being drawn into the engine. The
hho gas improves the quality of the fuel burn inside the engine cylinders, this can
increase the engine power, cleans old carbon deposits off the inside of an old engine,
reduces the unwanted exhaust emissions or smog and can improve the miles per gallon
that your vehicle gets.provided that the fuel computer does not try to pump excess fuel
into the engine when it detects the much extra oxygen in the exhaust and the improved
quality of the exhaust.This hydrogen generator is easy to make and the components
dont cost much.

Page | 1

1.2 ELECTROLYSIS OF WATER

Electrolysis of water is the decomposition of water (H2O) into oxygen (O2) and hydrogen
gas (H2) due to an electric current being passed through the water.
This technique can be used to make hydrogen fuel (hydrogen gas) and breathable oxygen;
though currently most industrial methods make hydrogen fuel from natural gas instead.

FIGURE NO. 1- ELECTROLYSIS OF WATER

2. INTRODUCTION
Page | 2

2.1 HISTORY
Jan Rudolph Deiman and Adriaan Paets van Troostwijk used in 1789 an electrostatic
machine to produce electricity which was discharged on gold electrodes in a Leyden jar
with water. In 1800 Alessandro Volta invented the voltaic pile, and a few weeks later
William Nicholson and Anthony Carlisle used it for the electrolysis of water. When
Znobe Gramme invented the Gramme machine in 1869 electrolysis of water became a
cheap method for the production of hydrogen. A method of industrial synthesis of
hydrogen and oxygen through electrolysis was developed by Dmitry Lachinov in 1888.

2.2 PRINCIPLE
An electrical power source is connected to two electrodes, or two plates (typicly made
from some inert metal such as platinum, stainless steel or iridium) which are placed in the
water. Hydrogen will appear at the cathode (the negatively charged electrode, where
electrons enter the water), and oxygen will appear at the anode (the positively charged
electrode). Assuming ideal faradaic efficiency, the amount of hydrogen generated is twice
the amount of oxygen, and both are proportional to the total electrical charge conducted
by the solution. However, in many cells competing side reactions dominate, resulting in
different products and less than ideal faradaic efficiency.
Electrolysis of pure water requires excess energy in the form of over potential to
overcome various activation barriers. Without the excess energy the electrolysis of pure
water occurs very slowly or not at all. This is in part due to the limited self-ionization of
water. Pure water has an electrical conductivity about one millionth that of seawater.
Many electrolytic cells may also lack the requisite electro catalysts. The efficiency of
electrolysis is increased through the addition of an electrolyte (such as a salt, an acid or a
base) and the use of electro catalysts.

Page | 3

Currently the electrolytic process is rarely used in industrial applications since hydrogen
can currently be produced more affordably from fossil fuels.

3.EQUATIONS INVOLVED
In pure water at the negatively charged cathode, a reduction reaction takes place, with
electrons (e) from the cathode being given to hydrogen cations to form hydrogen gas
(the half reaction balanced with acid):
Reduction at cathode: 2 H+(aq) + 2e H2(g)
At the positively charged anode, an oxidation reaction occurs, generating oxygen gas and
giving electrons to the anode to complete the circuit:
Oxidation at anode: 2 H2O(l) O2(g) + 4 H+(aq) + 4e
The same half reactions can also be balanced with base as listed below. Not all half
reactions must be balanced with acid or base. Many do, like the oxidation or reduction of
water listed here. To add half reactions they must both be balanced with either acid or
base.
Cathode (reduction): 2 H2O(l) + 2e H2(g) + 2 OH(aq)
Anode (oxidation): 4 OH(aq) O2(g) + 2 H2O(l) + 4 e

Page | 4

FIG NO. 2-Diagram showing the overall chemical equation.

Combining either half reaction pair yields the same overall decomposition of water into
oxygen and hydrogen:
Overall reaction: 2 H2O(l) 2 H2(g) + O2(g)
The number of hydrogen molecules produced is thus twice the number of oxygen
molecules. Assuming equal temperature and pressure for both gases, the produced
hydrogen gas has therefore twice the volume of the produced oxygen gas. The number of
electrons pushed through the water is twice the number of generated hydrogen molecules
and four times the number of generated oxygen molecules.

4.THERMODYNAMICS
Decomposition of pure water into hydrogen and oxygen at standard temperature and
pressure is not favorable in thermodynamic terms.
Anode (oxidation): 2 H2O(l) O2(g) + 4 H+(aq) + 4e
E0OX = -1.23 V
E0RED= 1.23
Cathode (reduction): 2 H+(aq) + 2e H2(g)
E0RED = 0.00 V
Page | 5

Thus, the standard potential of the water electrolysis cell is -1.23 V at 25 C at pH 0 (H+
= 1.0 M). At 25 C with pH 7 (H+ = 1.0107 M), the potential is unchanged based on the
Nernst equation. The thermodynamic standard cell potential can be obtained from
standard-state free energy calculations to find G and then using the equation: G=
-nFE(where E is the cell potential). In practice when an electrochemical cell is "driven"
toward completion by applying reasonable potential, it is kinetically controlled. Therefore
activation energy, ion mobility (diffusion) and concentration, wire resistance, surface
hindrance including bubble formation (causes electrode area blockage), and entropy,
require a greater applied to potential to overcome these factors.

5.ELECTROLYTE SELECTION
If the above described processes occur in pure water, H + cations will accumulate at the
anode and OH anions will accumulate at the cathode. This can be verified by adding a
pH indicator to the water: the water near the anode is acidic while the water near the
cathode is basic. The negative hydroxyl ions that approach the anode mostly combine
with the positive hydronium ions (H 3O+) to form water. The positive hydronium ions that
approach the negative cathode mostly combine with negative hydroxyl ions to form
water. Relatively few hydronium (hydroxyl) ions reach the cathode (anode). This can
cause a concentration overpotential at both electrodes.
Pure water is a fairly good insulator since it has a low autoionization, Kw = 1.0 x 1014 at
room temperature and thus pure water conducts current poorly, 0.055 Scm 1. Unless a
very large potential is applied to cause an increase in the autoionization of water the
electrolysis of pure water proceeds very slowly limited by the overall conductivity.

Page | 6

If a water-soluble electrolyte is added, the conductivity of the water rises considerably.

The electrolyte disassociates into cations and anions; the anions rush towards the anode
and neutralize the buildup of positively charged H + there; similarly, the cations rush
towards the cathode and neutralize the buildup of negatively charged OH there. This
allows the continued flow of electricity.
Care must be taken in choosing an electrolyte, since an anion from the electrolyte is in
competition with the hydroxide ions to give up an electron. An electrolyte anion with less
standard electrode potential than hydroxide will be oxidized instead of the hydroxide, and
no oxygen gas will be produced. A cation with a greater standard electrode potential than
a hydrogen ion will be reduced in its stead, and no hydrogen gas will be produced.
The following cations have lower electrode potential than H + and are therefore suitable
for use as electrolyte cations: Li+, Rb+, K+, Cs+, Ba2+, Sr2+, Ca2+, Na+, and Mg2+. Sodium
and lithium are frequently used, as they form inexpensive, soluble salts.
If an acid is used as the electrolyte, the cation is H +, and there is no competitor for the H+
created by disassociating water. The most commonly used anion is sulfate (SO4-2), as it is
very difficult to oxidize, with the standard potential for oxidation of this ion to the
peroxydisulfate ion being 2.05 volts.
Strong acids such as sulfuric acid (H2SO4), and strong bases such as potassium hydroxide
(KOH), and sodium hydroxide (NaOH) are frequently used as electrolytes due to their
strong conducting abilities.
A solid polymer electrolyte can also be used such as Nafion and when applied with a
special catalyst on each side of the membrane can efficiently split the water molecule
with as little as 1.5 Volts. There are also a number of other solid electrolyte systems that
have been trialled and developed with a number of electrolysis systems now available
commercially that use solid electrolytes.
Page | 7

6.ELECTROLYSIS TECHNIQUE
Two leads, running from the terminals of a battery, are placed in a cup of water with a
quantity of electrolyte to establish conductivity in the solution. Using NaCl (table salt) in
an electrolyte solution results in chlorine gas rather than oxygen due to a competing halfreaction. With the correct electrodes and correct electrolyte, such as baking soda,
hydrogen and oxygen gases will stream from the oppositely charged electrodes. Oxygen
will collect at the positively-charged electrode (anode) and hydrogen will collect at the
negatively-charged electrode (cathode). Note that hydrogen is positively charged in the
H2O molecule, so it ends up at the negative electrode. (And vice versa for oxygen.)
Note that an aqueous solution of water with chloride ions will, when electrolysed, either
result in either OH if the concentration of Cl is low, OR in chlorine gas being
preferentially discharged if the concentration of Cl is greater than 25% by mass in the
solution.

7.EFFICIENCY
7.1 THERMODYNAMICS
The electrolysis of water in standard conditions requires a theoretical minimum of 237 kJ
of electrical energy input to dissociate each mole of water, which is the standard Gibbs
Page | 8

free energy of formation of water. It also requires energy to overcome the change in
entropy of the reaction. Therefore, the process cannot proceed below 286 kJ per mol if no
external heat/energy is added.
Since each mole of water requires two moles of electrons, and given that the Faraday
constant F represents the charge of a mole of electrons (96485 C/mol), it follows that the
minimum voltage necessary for electrolysis is about 1.23 V. However, observing the
entropy component (and other losses), voltages over 1.48 V are required for the reaction
to proceed at practical current densities (the thermoneutral voltage).
In the case of water electrolysis, Gibbs free energy represents the minimum work
necessary for the reaction to proceed, and the reaction enthalpy is the amount of energy
(both work and heat) that has to be provided so the reaction products are at the same
temperature as the reactant (i.e. standard temperature for the values given above). An
electrolyser operating at 1.48 V would be 100% efficient.

7.2 OVERPOTENTIAL
Real water electrolysers require higher voltages for the reaction to proceed. The part that
exceeds 1.23 V is called overpotential or overvoltage, and represents any kind of loss and
non ideality in the electrochemical process.
For a well designed cell the largest overpotential is the reaction overpotential for the fourelectron oxidation of water to oxygen at the anode; electrocatalysts can facilitate this
Page | 9

reaction, and platinum alloys are the state of the art for this oxidation. Developing a
cheap, effective electrocatalyst for this reaction would be a great advance, and is a topic
of current research, there are many approaches among them a 30 year old recipe for
molybdenum sulfide, graphene quantum dots, carbon nanotubes and perovskite.The
simpler two-electron reaction to produce hydrogen at the cathode can be electrocatalyzed
with almost no overpotential by platinum, or in theory a hydrogenase enzyme. If other,
less effective, materials are used for the cathode (e.g. graphite), large overpotentials will
appear.

7.3 INDUSTRIAL USE

Efficiency of modern hydrogen generators is measured by power consumed per standard
volume of hydrogen (MJ/m3), assuming standard temperature and pressure of the H2. A
100%-efficient electrolyser would consume 11.7 MJ/m3; the lower the actual power used,
the higher efficiency.
Electrolyser vendors provide efficiencies based on enthalpy. To assess the claimed
efficiency of an electrolyser it is important to establish how it was defined by the vendor
(i.e. what enthalpy value, what current density, etc).
There are two main technologies available on the market, alkaline and proton exchange
membrane (PEM) electrolysers. Alkaline electrolysers are cheaper in terms of investment
(they generally use nickel catalysts), but less efficient; PEM electrolysers, conversely, are
more expensive (they generally use expensive platinum-group metal catalysts) but are
more efficient and can operate at higher current densities, and can be therefore be
Page | 10

possibly cheaper if the hydrogen production is large enough. Reported working

efficiencies are in the range 60-75% for alkaline and 6590% for PEM.

Page | 11

8.HHO GENERATOR(AIR BOOSTER)

Fossil fuels currently constitute 82% of the global total primary energy sources and oil
makes 31.5 % of this. Of the global oil production, 62.2% is consumed by the transport
sector. Thus, the automotive industry is the largest consumer of fossil oil. Studies
have also shown that the demand for oil and gas is rising exponentially and
indications are that fossil fuels will not outlast the century if current habits are not
curtailed. Hence, in response to the growing fuel prices and the increasing pressures for
a cleaner "greener" society, the automotive industry has made efforts to reduce
emissions and increase fuel efficiency. These efforts have primarily focussed on
emissions reductions using catalytic converters, reducing vehicle weight, using
alternative structural materials, improving engine management and fuel supply
systems, incorporating the stop - start technology and introducing alternative sources of
energy such as hydrogen fuel cells, biofuels and others. Governments and
municipalities have also made efforts through the development and implementation of
legislation.
As regulations become more restrictive and global fossil fuel prices increase, the
search for more sustainable sources of transportation fuels becomes more urgent. The
current research into alternative energy sources for motor vehicles is mainly
concentrated around electric/battery powered cars, hydrogen fuel cells, solar and
hydrogen powered cars. These technologies, as promising as they may be, will not
completely replace the fossil fuelled internal combustion engine within the next few
decades. One of the major hindrances will be the lack of supporting infrastructure such
as fuel supply and distribution centres. There is therefore potential for a bridging or
interim technology that can be incorporated into existing technology using the existing
infrastructure, which can lead to greener use of available fossil resources. One such
Page | 12

option is the introduction of hydrogen gas into the combustion process of an IC engine.
Hydrogen gas is an example of a renewable energy source that can be used to partially
supplement diesel or petrol fuel by enriching supply air. Advantages of introducing
hydrogen gas include higher net heating value and diffusivity of hydrogen in air
when compared to fossil fuels. This means that including it in the combustion
process can lead to a more complete combustion of the fuel air mix. A more complete
combustion can result in the reduction of harmful exhaust emissions such as
hydrocarbons (HCs), nitrogen oxides (NOx) and carbon monoxide (CO). In addition,
better diffusivity produces a much faster flame velocity (on the order of 10x) that
can lead to a better acceleration and torque output from the engine.
Musmar and Al-Rousan conducted detailed research on the performance of a single
cylinder Honda G200 engine using air enriched with HHO gas. The HHO generator
used was box shaped, with electrodes made of stainless steel grade 316-L,
electrolysing water. The water was enhanced using sodium bicarbonate. The
engine speed was varied from 1000 rpm to 2300 rpm. This work demonstrated the
feasibility of introducing an HHO generator into the engine compartment as the
generator was about the size of a standard 12V car battery. In addition introduction of
HHO resulted in 54% reduction in NOx and20% reduction in CO. It was also noted
that HHO concentration varied with engine speed. This could have been a result of
no control on electric current fed to the generator. No information is given on the
performance of the HHO generator used.
In more recent work, Leelakrishnan and Suriyan investigated the effects of HHO gas
enriched air on the performance of a single cylinder, four stroke, 5.4 kW SI petrol
engine. Enriched air was supplied to the engine through a passage between the air filter
and the carburettor. Results reported indicate 5% improvement in brake power, 7%
Page | 13

improvement in thermal efficiency, 6% reduction in fuel consumption,88% reduction

in unburnt hydrocarbons (HC), 94% reduction in CO and 58% reduction in NOx. These
values were reported at full load. However, no information was given on the rate of
production of the HHO gas or whether there was variation in gas production during
the

test.

Furthermore, the

engine used

is

not representative of the current

technology on the road.

This project investigates the engine performance from partially including hydrogen gas
(also known as brown's gas or HHO gas) into the combustion process of a
conventional spark-ignition engine. A device, stored in the engine compartment, will
produce the HHO gas through electrolysis of distilled water and an added
electrolyte.This can increase fuel efficiency, engine torque and reduce harmful exhaust
emissions.

9.WORKING DIAGRAM
Page | 14

FIGURE NO 3-WORKING DIAGRAM

Page | 15

10.PARTS & MATERIAL USED IN AIR BOOSTER

1. STAINLESS STEEL PLATES
2. BIKE ENGINE
3. BIKE BATTERY
4. PVC PIPES
5. PVC PIPE CAPS
6. WASHERS
7. NOZZLES
8. M-SEAL
9. NUT & BOLTS
10. DISTILED WATER
11. ELECTROLYTE
12. PVC SOLVENT CEMENT
13.MECHANICAL THREAD TAPE

10.1.STAINLESS STEEL PLATE

Page | 16

FIGURE NO. 4-STAINLESS STEEL PLATE

10.2 BIKE ENGINE

A 100cc Suzuki bike petrol engine is used for test.
Page | 17

FIGURE NO. 5-BIKE ENGINE

10.3 BATTERY
12 volts bike battery is used in air booster.
Page | 18

10.4 PVC PIPES & PVC CAPS

Pipe diameters

110mm & 75mm

Page | 19

Pipe caps diameters

110mm & 75mm

FIGURE NO 7- PVC PIPES AND CAPS

Page | 20

10.5 WASHERS, CLIPS,NUT

Page | 21

FIGURE NO. 8-WASHERS,CLIPS,NUT

Page | 22

10.6 PVC SOLVENT CEMENT AND THREAD TAPE

FIGURE NO. 9-PVC SOLVENT CEMENT AND THREAD TAPE

Page | 23

11.SAFETY PRECAUTIONS
Before getting into the details of how to construct the booster,you must be aware of
what needs to be done when using a hydrogen generator of any design. Firstly, hydroxy
hho gas is highly explosive. If it wasnt, it would not be able to do its job of improving
the gas milege your vehicle is getting, Hydroxy gas needs to be treated with care and
caution. It is important to make sure that it goes into the engine as designed and
nowhere else. It is also important that it gets ignited inside the engine and nowhere else.
To make this happen, a number of common-sense steps need to be taken. Firstly, the
hydrogen generator must not make hydrogen gas when the engine is not running. The
best way to arrange this is to switch off the electricity going to the booster. It is not
enough to just have a manually-operated dashboard On/Off switch as it is almost certain
to be forgotten one day. And the generator will be left on making gas while the engine is
off Instead, the electrical supply to the booster is sent through the ignition switch of the
car. That way, when the engine is turned off, we can be sure that the hydrogen generator
is turned off. So as not to put too much amp load through the ignition switch, and to
allow for the possibility of the ignition switch being on when the engine is not running,
instead of wiring the hydrogen generator directly to the switch, it is recommended that
you wire a standard automotive relay across the oil pressure sending unit and then the
relay carry the amp load electricity.
The fuel pump is powered down automatically when the key is off, and so this will also
shut off the hydrogen generator.

An extra safety feature is to allow for the (very unlikely) possibility of an electrical
Page | 24

short circuit occurring in the Hydrogen generator or its wiring. This is done by
putting a fuse or contact-breaker between the battery and the new Wiring As shown

FIGURE NO. 10- SAFETY PRECAUTIONS

Page | 25

12.REFRENCES
1. A. Al-Rousan, "Reduction of fuel consumption in gasoline engines by introducing
HHO gas into intake manifold," International Journal of Hydrogen, vol. 35, pp. 1293012935, August 2003
2.M. S. Yadav, S. M. Sawant, and H. V. Chavan, "Investigations on generation methods
for oxy-hydrogen gas, its blending with cenventional fuels and effect on the performance
of internal combustion engine," Journal of Mechanical Engineering Reserach, vol. 3, no.
9, pp. 325-332, September 2011.
3. S. A. Musmar and A. A. Al-Rousan, "Effect of HHO gas on combustion emissions in
gasoline engines," journal of Fuel and Energy, vol. 90, pp. 3066-3070, 2011.

4. WWW.WIKIPEDIA.COM
5. WWW.HHOGENERATOR.COM

26 | P a g e