Fuel 319 (2022) 123746

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Fuel
journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/fuel

Full Length Article

Experimental investigation of the achieving methods and the working

characteristics of a near-zero NOx emission turbocharged direct-injection
hydrogen engine
Ling-zhi Bao , Bai-gang Sun , Qing-he Luo *
School of Mechanical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing 100081, China

A R T I C L E I N F O A B S T R A C T

Keywords: Hydrogen, as clean and renewable energy, is regarded as a promising fuel applied to internal combustion en­
Direct-injection hydrogen engine gines. The relatively high level of Nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions is an important limiting factor to realize the
Lean combustion application of hydrogen engine. Previous researches on the NOx emissions reduction were based on the
NOx control
naturally-aspired or supercharger hydrogen engine with medium load and efficiency. In this study, a 2.0 L
Near-zero emission
turbocharged direct-injection engine is used to find the methods of achieving near-zero NOx emission (without
any posttreatment equipment) with large power and high thermal efficiency. The effects of the coefficient of
excess air (λ), the timing of the start of injection (SOI), and injection pressure on NOx emissions are investigated
detailly with the engine speed range of 1000 rpm to 4000 rpm. The target of the NOx emission is set below 20
ppm according to the emission standards. A leaner combustion (λ = 3.29@ 3000 rpm) compared to λ = 2.62@
2000 rpm is required to achieve near-zero emission. The utilization of the turbocharger and improved injection
pressure increase the power and efficiency simultaneously. The maximum brake mean effective pressure (BMEP)
can reach 13.3 bar@3000 rpm, and the maximum brake thermal efficiency (BTE) reaches 40.4% @2000 rpm
with near-zero NOx emission. Various techniques, such as turbocharging, exhaust gas recirculation, and
increased compression ratios, are also compared to qualify the trade-off relationships among the power, effi­
ciency, and emission of the direct-injection hydrogen engine. These conclusions can be used to broaden the
working boundary and optimize the fuel economy of turbocharged direct-injection hydrogen engines with near-
zero NOx emission.

1. Introduction
The growing consumption of foil fuels has accelerated the global
warming and energy crisis. Many countries have committed to achieving
peak carbon dioxide emissions in recent decades, and it is necessary to
implement low-carbon or carbon-free energy. Hydrogen, as clean and
renewable energy, is regarded as an important component of the energy
structure in the future [1,2]. There are currently two methods to apply
hydrogen on vehicles: first is fuel cells with zero emissions and high
efficiency [3]. The second approach is the hydrogen internal combustion
engine, which can utilize the traditional mature industry, address the
issue of reliability and price, and require less on the purity of the
hydrogen [4].
The study of hydrogen engines can be divided into port fuel injection
(PFI) and direct injection (DI) spark ignition according to the mixture
formation types [5]. Most researchers currently pay attention to DI en­
gines, which have been demonstrated to offer large powers and high
efficiencies, solving the problem of abnormal combustion, such as
backfires and preignition [6]. However, a large amount of nitrogen
oxidizer (NOx) is produced by nitrogen and oxygen under high-
temperature circumstances caused by the burning of hydrogen. NOx is
regarded as a serious pollutant in the emission standards, which de­
teriorates the atmosphere by causing acid rains and destroying the ozone
layer. Thermal NO following the extended Zeldovic mechanism is the
predominant category that occupies over 95% of the NOx emissions of
hydrogen [7]. Other mechanisms, such as prompt NOx and intermediate
N2O, tend to occur with low speed, and load only accounts for approx­
imately 5% of the NOx emission of the hydrogen engine. Compared to
the gasoline engine, the higher flame temperature and the larger coef­
ficient of excess air (λ) of the hydrogen engine accelerate the formation

* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: luoqinghe@bit.edu.cn (Q.-h. Luo).

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.fuel.2022.123746
Received 10 November 2021; Received in revised form 14 February 2022; Accepted 28 February 2022
Available online 8 March 2022
0016-2361/© 2022 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
L.-z. Bao et al.
of NOx emissions, with a maximum of 7000 ppm reported by Luo et al.
[8,9].
Many researchers have investigated reducing NOx emissions by lean
combustion, retarding ignition timing, exhaust gas recycling, and water
injection [6]. Lee et al. reported that almost no emissions are produced
for ultra-lean mixture combustion when λ exceeds 5 based on a 0.5 L
supercharger hydrogen engine [10]. A relatively low load of brake mean
effective pressure (BMEP) bar was achieved at the engine speed of 1600
rpm with zero emissions. Wallner et al. proposed multiple injection
strategies and found that when the secondary injection accounts for
50%, the NOx emission is reduced by 85% to approximately 200 ppm
compared to the single injection [11]. Exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) is
also regarded as an effective measure to increase the polytropic index
and reduce the combustion temperature. Yamane et al. found that
delayed injection and 30% EGR can reduce NOx to the limitation of 0.7
g/kWh based on a 4.7L hydrogen engine, but the combustion instability
increases and the efficiency drops at the same time [12]. Bleechmore
compared the effects of hot and cold EGR on direct injection hydrogen
internal combustion engines, which reduced NOx emissions by 87% and
93% respectively to approximately 120 ppm [13]. Nande et al. con­
ducted intake-port water injection with multiple injections and tested it
on a 0.5 L single-cylinder direct injection hydrogen engine. The exper­
imental results indicated that water injection reduced NOx emissions by
27% to approximately 40 ppm with an indicate mean effective pressure
(IMEP) of 7.5 bar and the indicate thermal efficiency of 38% [14]. Xu et.
al injected the water directly into the cylinder and reduced the NOx
emissions 55.4% from 1841 ppm to 822 ppm with the IMEP of 2.8 bar
[15]. Recently, a 1.3 L single-cylinder hydrogen engine for a stationary
power generator was modified by Tsujimura et al. The maximum IMEP
of 14.6 bar was achieved with engine-out NOx emission of less than 150
ppm for an intake boost pressure of 175 kPa by a supercharger [16]. In
terms of ultra-low NOx emissions, a maximum BMEP of 0.85 MPa by
supercharging with several ppm NOx emission was achieved by Takagi
et al. with the help of the plume ignition and combustion concept [17].
According to the articles reviewed above, the optimized results of
NOx reduction are mainly clustered above 100 ppm, which still exceeds
the emissions standards, with medium loads and thermal efficiency. The
experiments on the near-zero emissions were achieved with the specific
working point and lacked the consideration of the whole working range.
A sufficient reduction in engine-out NOx emissions with high engine
speeds and loads has not yet succeeded. Besides, the previous experi­
ments are based on the natural-aspired or supercharged method, since
the high difficulty of turbocharger matching for hydrogen engine. The
low exhaust temperature of the hydrogen engine with approximately
550 ℃ supplies less energy for the turbo, while the lean combustion of
hydrogen with a high coefficient of excess air (λ commonly exceed 2)
and large stoichiometric air-to-fuel ratio (34.25) requires large boost
pressure by the charger. In this study, a small turbo combined with a
large charger is redesigned and tested, and a maximum intake pressure
of 270 kPa was achieved at all engine speeds. Considering the turbo­
charger can recover energy from the exhaust gases and provide large
boost pressure, the turbocharged direct-injection engine can achieve
large power and high brake thermal efficiency with near-zero emission.
Moreover, the adjustment of the combustion in turbocharged hydrogen
engines affects the exhaust and the intake gases simultaneously, which
increases the control difficulties. Therefore, the effects of parameters
such as the coefficient of excess air (λ), the timing of the start of injection
(SOI), and injection pressure are studied in detail to develop the control
strategy of a near-zero emission hydrogen engine. Various strategies,
such as turbocharging, exhaust gas recirculation, and improved
compression ratios, are also compared to qualify the trade-off relation­
ships between the power, efficiency, and emissions of the turbocharged
hydrogen engine.
2
Fuel 319 (2022) 123746
2. Methodology
2.1. Validation of near-zero emission
To achieve near-zero emissions, we need to restrict NOx emissions,
which is the only pollutant exhausted from the hydrogen engine. Ac­
cording to the Europe VI emission standards for passenger and light
commercial vehicles in 2016, the limitation of NOx emissions is 60 mg/
km[18]. A limit of 35 mg/km is also regulated in the latest version of
China VI vehicle emission standards in 2021.
The volume of the exhaust gases per kilometer is determined by the
operating parameters and can be calculated by
mH2 (34.25λ + 1)
Vexhaust = (1)
100ρ
where Vexhaust represents the volume of exhaust gases per kilometer,
m3/km; mH2 represents the mass of hydrogen consumption of a hydrogen
engine vehicle per 100 km, kg/100 km;λ represents the excess coeffi­
cient of the engine; and ρ represents the density of the exhaust gases in
the standard state.
SNOx
ϕNOx = (2)
Vexhaust
where ϕNOx represents the volume concentration of NOx, mg/m3;SNOx
represents the limit of NOx in emission standards, mg/km.
The concentration of NOx in the exhaust gases can be calculated by
22.4
CNOx = ϕ (3)
MNOx NOx
where CNOx represents the concentration of NOx, ppm; MNOx repre­
sents the molar mass of NOx.
Here, we assume that the hydrogen consumption of a direct-injection
hydrogen engine vehicle is 1 kg hydrogen per 100 km [19]. According to
the experimental data. λ is set as 2.5, and the density of exhaust gases is
assumed to be the same as that of air, considering the high λ of the
mixture. The SNOx is set as 35 mg/km. Combining the above equations,
the limit of the concentration of NOx that emission standards required
were approximately 34 ppm.
Therefore, we can regard 20 ppm NOx emissions as the limit of
nearly zero emissions because it is far below the emission standards, and
it also meets the requirements of the Equipment Zero Emission Vehicle
level in Japan [12]. The limitation of 20 ppm NOx emission was set as
the evaluation index of the near-zero emission hydrogen engine.
It is worth mentioning that, considering the lack of HC and CO or
other reducing agents in the exhaust of hydrogen engines, the traditional
three-way catalyst is not suitable for hydrogen engines when working
with lean combustion. The reduction of NOx demands additional re­
ductants such as urea, NH3, or H2, and selective catalytic reduction
(SCR) increases the cost of the postprocessing system, requiring appro­
priate exhaust temperature and airspeed. It is simpler and more efficient
to decrease the formation of NOx from the source by controlling com­
bustion and other techniques. Therefore, in this paper, we focus on the
original emission discharged from the cylinder and aim to fundamen­
tally decrease the NOx emission.
2.2. Experimental set-up
Experiments are implemented on a 2.0 L, four-stokes, direct injection
hydrogen fueled engine with 99.99% high purity hydrogen. The tested
fuel A turbocharged was matched to enhance the power and reduce the
emission of the hydrogen engine. The schematic diagram is described as
Fig. 1 with parameters shown in Table 1.
The CW250 eddy current dynamometer was used to measure the
speed and torque of the engine. The wide open direct-injection hydrogen
injector was placed on the intake side of the cylinder. The hydrogen jet is
designed to be orthogonal to the piston to enhance hydrogen-air mixing.
L.-z. Bao et al. Fuel 319 (2022) 123746

14
35MPa 4-20MPa
5 7 9 10
6 11
8

4
3
13

2
12

1
charger turbine

a Sketch b Real time image

Fig. 1. Sketch and real time image of the direct injection hydrogen engine (1- Air mass flow meter, 2- Air-cooled intercooled, 3-Throttle valve, 4- Hydrogen carbon
fiber wound bottle, 5- First pressure reducing valve, 6- Hydrogen mass flow meter, 7- Secondary pressure reducing valve 8- Hydrogen common rail, 9- Hydrogen
direct injector, 10-Cooled spark plug, 11-Cylinder pressure sensor, 12-drying agent, 13- Exhaust gas analysis, 14- Dynamometer).

mainly focus on the nearly zero NOx emission characteristic, which is

Table 1
totally below 20 ppm. Therefore, the maximum NO2 is less than 1 ppm
Parameters of the 2.0 L turbocharged direct-injection hydrogen engine.
by proportional calculation and can be neglected. Second, the sampling
Engine type Hydrogen engine tube was located at the exhaust pipe after the turbine, and high tem­
Bore 88 mm perature caused the decomposition of NO2; thus, less NO2 existed in the
Stroke 82 mm NOx emissions.
Cylinders 4 The uncertainty in the experimental results is calculated using the
Compression ratio 13:1
Exhaust valve open 40◦ BBDC
root-mean square method to obtain the magnitude of the error given by
Exhaust valve close 4◦ BTDC the Gaussian distribution, as follows:
Inlet valve open 18◦ ATDC [(
Inlet valve close 21◦ ABDC
)2 ( )2 ( )2 ]12
∂R ∂R ∂R (4)
Engine speed 1000 rpm ~ 4000 rpm ΔR = Δx + Δx +⋯+ Δx
∂x1 1 ∂x2 2 ∂xn n

where ΔR is the uncertainty in the computed result, R is a given

The detailed flow and spray characteristics are tested by Wang et al.
[20]. The injection pressure can be adjusted from 4 MPa to 20 MPa by a
pressure-reducing valve according to the working conditions. Four Kis­
tler cylinder pressure transducers 6052C were used to obtain the cyl­
inder pressure, and the electric control unit (ECU) was based on the
INCA system. The data measurement system mainly included tempera­
ture (Pt100 and K type thermocouple), the pressure of the intake and
exhaust pipe (steady-state and transient pressure sensors), atmospheric
temperature, and moisture.
The mass flow of hydrogen was monitored by Emerson CMF010
Coriolis mass flowmeters, and the mass flow of the air was measured by
a thermal mass flowmeter. The excess air coefficient (the reciprocal of
the equivalence ratio) for each working condition is calculated by the
measured mass flow of hydrogen and air in the test bench system.
The NO emission of the exhaust gases was measured by an AVL
DiTEST GAS 1000 using the electrochemical method. The measuring
range can reach 0–5000 ppm, and the measurement deviation is ± 1
ppm. As mentioned above, NO2 may occupy 3%~5% of the NOx emis­
sions of hydrogen engines. In this test, we regard the measured NO
emissions as the NOx emissions for the following two reasons. First, we
function of the computed results, x1 , x2 , xn are the independent
measured variables, Δx1 , Δx2 , Δxn are the corresponding uncertainty
values of the independent measured variables [21].
Table 2 summarizes the uncertainties of the measuring data based on
the equipment specifications and experimental error analyses. The error
analysis was carried out by taking into account error rates in the mea­
surement range of the devices used in the experiments (as determined by
their calibration values).
3. Results and discussion
3.1. Effects of the excess air coefficient
To investigate the effects of excess air coefficient λ, the SOI timing
and the injection pressure are set as − 140 ◦ CA and 10 MPa, respectively,
to ensure sufficient hydrogen injection time. All engine operations take
place with the wide-open throttle, minimizing the pumping loss and
maximizing the efficiency. Only the intake and exhaust pipes are
modified to equip the turbocharger and keep others constant.
Fig. 2 compares the effect of λ on NOx emissions between naturally
aspirated and turbocharged hydrogen engines. The λ of a naturally

Table 2
Parameters of the 2.0 L turbocharged direct-injection hydrogen engine.
Measuring Device Accuracy Parameters@3000 rpm WOTa Error %

Engine speed GW250 dynamometer ±1 r/min Brake power = 66.73 kW 0.31 kW 0.46
Engine torque FC2000 Torque transducer ±1N⋅m Brake thermal efficiency = 39.09% 0.196% 0.5
Cylinder pressure Kislter 6052C transducer ±0.2 bar BMEP = 13.35 bar 0.0625 bar 0.47
H2 mass flow CMF010 H2 flowmeters ±0.01 kg/h Excess air–fuel ratio = 2.634 0.0152 0.58
Air mass flow MTR-500 Air flowmeters ±2.5 kg/h IMEP = 14.71 bar 0.08 bar 0.54

3
L.-z. Bao et al. Fuel 319 (2022) 123746

4000 SOI= 140 CA 400 SOI=140 CA

Injection pressure=10 MPa Injection pressure=10 MPa

Intake and exhaust pressure kPa

3500 Intake pressure 2000 rpm
Naturally aspired 2000 rpm Intake pressure 3000 rpm
3000 Exhaust pressure 2000 rpm
NOx emission ppm

Turbocharged 2000 rpm

300 Exhaust pressure 3000 rpm
2500 Turbocharged 3000 rpm
Knock Limit
2000 BMEP=15 bar

1500 BMEP=11 bar 200 50 kPa

Near-zero emission
Intake pressure = 216 kPa
1000 BMEP=4.5 bar
Near-zero emission
500
Intake pressure =156 kPa 10 kPa
100
0 2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5
1 1.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 Excess air
Excess air
Fig. 4. Effects of λ on the intake and exhaust pressure before turbine for various
Fig. 2. Effects of λ on NOx emissions at various engine speeds. engine speeds.

aspired engine works over a wide range, covering from 1 to 3.5. In
contrast, the maximum λ of the turbocharged engines is limited by
knock, reaching 1.96 at 2000 rpm, and drops to 2.1 at 3000 rpm. The
NOx emission of naturally aspired engines diminishes rapidly from
3642 ppm to 234 ppm in the λ range of 1–2, then declines slightly and
remains at nearly 0 ppm after λ exceeds 2.5. The emission of turbo­
charged at 2000 rpm decreases from 1629 ppm with λ = 2 to 18 ppm
with λ = 2.65, which shows a similar trend. In terms of turbocharged
hydrogen engines, when turbochargers work with high efficiency, the
mass and pressure of the intake air rise proportionally with increasing
hydrogen mass, leaving λ to change slightly. Thus, the power of turbo­
charged engines is far beyond that of naturally aspirated engines. For
example, under λ = 2.5 conditions, the BMEP of turbocharged engines
reaches 15 bar@3000 rpm with an intake pressure of 267 kPa and 11
bar@2000 rpm with an intake pressure of 170 kPa, while the naturally
aspirated engine only stands at 4.5 bar@2000 rpm with 101 kPa intake
pressure. A large BEMP leads to an increase in the maximum cylinder
pressure and high temperature. According to the Zeldovic mechanism,
the formation of NOx rises exponentially with increasing combustion
temperature when the concentration of oxygen is sufficient. The lean
mixture offers adequate oxygen so that the product of NOx is mainly
determined by the reaction temperature. Therefore, the NOx emissions
of turbocharged works with high engine speeds are the highest among
the three cases.
Fig. 3 depicts the correlation between λ and the nearly zero NOx
emission characteristics in detail. λ exceeding 2.53 of the naturally
aspired engine guarantees nearly zero emission, while it increases to λ =
2.62 for the turbocharged engine at 2000 rpm. Moreover, only λ = 3.29
and leaner combustion result in near-zero emission with an engine speed
of 3000 rpm. The BMEP of turbocharged to achieve near-zero emission
reaches 9 bar, which is double that of the naturally aspirated case. This
phenomenon can be explained from two aspects as follows.
First, as shown in Fig. 4, the maximum absolute intake pressure rises
from 189 kPa to 271 kPa, while the exhaust pressure almost doubles,
peaking at 267 kPa when the engine speed changes from 2000 rpm to
3000 rpm. Compared with the naturally aspired engine, the intake
pressure of the turbocharged engine reaches 156 kPa at 2000 rpm and
216 kPa at 3000 rpm with near-zero emissions. On the other hand, the
differential pressure between the exhaust pressure and intake pressure
changes from 10 kPa@2000 rpm to 50 kPa@3000 rpm. Increasing the
engine speed and exhaust pressure deteriorates the process of gas ex­
change and results in an increase in the fraction of residual gases. The
increase in the boost pressure and the fraction of residual gases improves
the cylinder pressure after the compression stroke, which leads to an
increase in the combustion temperature and the promotion of NOx
emission.
Second, extending the hydrogen injection duration leaves less time
for hydrogen-air mixing. Fig. 5 illustrates the duration between the end

50 SOI=-140 CA 100 Mixing duration 2000rpm 1800

Injection pressure=10 MPa Mixing duration 3000rpm
Maximum cylinder temperature K

Max_T 2000 rpm

Naturally aspired 2000 rpm Max_T 3000rpm
40 80
Turbocharged 2000 rpm 1600
NOx emission ppm

Mixing duration CA

Turbocharged 3000 rpm

30 60
BMEP=9 bar Near -zero emission
Max_T=1220 K 1400
Nearly-zero NOx emission limit
20 40
Near -zero emission
BMEP =9 bar Max_T=1370 K
BMEP=4.5 bar 1200
10 20

0 0 1000
2 2.5 3 3.5 4 4.5 2 2.5 3 3.5 4
Excess air Excess air

Fig. 3. Effects of λ on the near-zero emission characteristics for various en­ Fig. 5. Effects of λ on the mixing duration and maximum cylinder temperature
gine speeds. for various engine speeds.

4
L.-z. Bao et al. Fuel 319 (2022) 123746

of injection and the spark timing, which represents the mixing duration. 1000
The duration drops slightly from 90 ◦ CA to 43 ◦ CA with a decrease in λ at
2000 rpm. In contrast, the mixing time of 3000 rpm is limited at 66 ◦ CA
when λ = 3.9 and declines significantly. When λ reaches 2.1, the mixing
duration equals 0, and the spark occurs at the end of injection simul­ Injection pressure=14 Mpa

NOx emission ppm

taneously. Therefore, it is more likely to become inhomogeneous
mixture gases at high engine speeds due to the short mixing duration,
Injection pressure=10 Mpa
accelerating the formation of the local rich region. Hence, the effective Injection pressure=6 Mpa
way to reduce the cylinder temperature and control the NOx emission is 100
by applying leaner combustion with a higher λ. As demonstrated in
Fig. 5, the maximum cylinder temperature calculated by the combustion
analysis with cylinder pressure varies from 1147 K to 1509 K with the
change in λ. The maximum temperature of the 2000 rpm case is higher
than that of the 3000 rpm case, reaching 1370 K and 1220 K, respec­ Near-zero NOx limit
tively. Therefore, when the engine works with near-zero emission at
high engine speed, leaner combustion is required to compensate for the 10
rising cylinder temperature caused by the higher intake pressure and the -200 -180 -160 -140 -120 -100 -80
shorter mixing duration. Start of injection CA
Fig. 7. Effects of SOI on NOx emissions for various injection pressures.
3.2. Effects of the start of injection timing

To investigate the effects of the timing of the start of the injection demonstrates that advancing injection is required to achieve near-zero
(SOI), the injection pressure was adjusted to 14 MPa, ensuring adequate emission with low injection pressure.
injection duration windows, and the target BMEP was set as 10 bar. As
shown in Fig. 6, the NOx emission maintains a low level with the early
3.3. Effect of the injection pressure
injection starting before − 140 ◦ CA (the negative sign represents the
crank angle before the compression top dead center) and then rises
Despite affecting the NOx emission, the injection pressure de­
drastically to approximately 590 ppm when injection starts after −
termines the quantity of hydrogen injected into the cylinder, which re­
100 ◦ CA. The magnified region indicates the near-zero emission char­
lates to the power of the engine. A change in the injection pressure is
acteristics specifically. Advancing injection realizes near-zero emission,
inevitable since hydrogen is supplied by reducing the pressure of the
and the injection before SOI = − 120 ◦ CA guarantees extremely low
storage bottle. Thus, the injection pressure is determined by the amount
emission with engine speeds of 1500 and 2000 rpm. However, in terms
of hydrogen that remains in the bottle. As shown in Fig. 8, λ and the SOI
of the 2500 rpm working conditions, it is necessary to delay the injection
timing are optimized to limit NOx emissions to less than 20 ppm. The
to − 160 ◦ CA to meet the requirements of nearly zero emission. The time
target cannot be achieved at a high engine speed (3500 rpm) with an
that corresponds to the unit of the crank angle is shortened with high
injection pressure of less than 10 MPa. The mass flow rate of the injec­
engine speeds. Therefore, early injection is required to provide sufficient
tion with low injection pressure is too slow to provide sufficient mixing
time for the formation of homogeneous mixture gases and to achieve
time at high engine speed. High injection pressure shows better per­
near-zero emissions.
formance on the power with near-zero emission at engine high speed.
Fig. 7 depicts the NOx changes with different SOI timings and in­
For instance, the maximum BMEP of 14 MPa injection pressure reaches
jection pressures. The engine speed was fixed at 2000 rpm, and λ was
13.3 bar at 3000 rpm. It drops to 11.3 bar with a 10 MPa injection
adjusted to 2.8. When the injection occurs before − 160 ◦ CA, the NOx
pressure, loses 15% of the power, and turns to 7.2 bar with a 6 MPa
emission with various injection pressures is below the nearly zero limit.
injection pressure, reducing the dynamic performance by 42%. How­
With the retarding of the SOI, the NOx emission at a 6 MPa injection
ever, in terms of engine speed below 2000 rpm, low injection pressure
pressure exceeds the limit, reaching 38 ppm (SOI = − 140 ◦ CA), while
performs as well as high injection pressure because low engine speed
the NOx emissions at a 14 MPa injection pressure remain near zero. This
allows sufficient mixing time even when adopting 6 MPa injection

700 BMEP= 10bar 14 NOx < 20 ppm

Injection pressure=14 MPa
600
12
1500 rpm 15%
NOx emission ppm

500 40
2000 rpm
BMEP bar

10
400 2500 rpm Near-zero
Limited by the
NOx
20 injector flow rate
300 8

200 42%
0 Injection pressure=14 Mpa
6
100 -200 -150 -100 Injection pressure=10 Mpa
Spark Injection pressure=6 Mpa
0 4
-200 -150 -100 -50 0 50 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000
Start of injection CA Engine speed rpm
Fig. 6. Effects of SOI on NOx emissions at various engine speeds. Fig. 8. BMEP of near-zero emission conditions for various injection pressures.

5
L.-z. Bao et al. Fuel 319 (2022) 123746

3.6 NOx < 20 ppm 25 Near-zero emissions limit

Injection pressure=14 Mpa lamda=3.5 Wide open throttle lean burn limit
Injection pressure=10 Mpa BMEP=7.2 bar Knock limit
3.4 20
Injection pressure=6 Mpa

3.2 Limited by the

BMEP bar
15
injector flow rate
3
10
2.8 NOx emission<20 ppm

lambda=2.73 5 Wide open throttle

2.6 BMEP=13.3 bar IMEP COV 3%

Throttle control
2.4 0
1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000 1500 2000 2500 3000 3500 4000
Engine speed rpm Engine speed rpm
Fig. 11. Load characteristics of the turbocharged direction injection
Fig. 9. λ of near-zero emission conditions for various injection pressures.
hydrogen engine.

pressure.
with 37% BTE. These performance indexes can meet the basic require­
Fig. 9 illustrates the change in λ that corresponds to the data of Fig. 8.
ment of powering a passenger vehicle. Finally, the red cycle is achieved
The λ of 14 MPa injection pressure grows steadily, while the λ of 6 MPa
by improving the injection pressure and optimizing the combustion and
rises drastically with increasing engine speed. At 1500 rpm, only λ =
other parameters, such as valve timing, intercooler temperature, and
2.43 can meet the nearly zero requirements, and it changes to 2.89 at
intake pipe length. The BMEP of a nature-aspired engine merely
4000 rpm with 14 MPa injection pressure. λ with 14 MPa injection
amounts to 4.7 bar, but the power is enhanced over 2.5 times, reaching
pressure stands at 2.73, while λ reaches 2.85 and 3.5 with 10 MPa and 6
12.1 bar with the utilization of a proper turbocharger and 16 MPa in­
MPa injection pressures, respectively, at 3000 rpm. Therefore, it is
jection pressure. The brake thermal efficiency also has a significant
inevitable to sacrifice the power by reducing λ at high engine speeds for
improvement, rising from 30% to 40.4% and increasing by 10.4%.
low injection pressure conditions.
As shown in Fig. 11, there are 3 curves in the figure of the load
characteristic of the hydrogen engine. The red curve represents the
3.4. Near-zero emission operating characteristics
boundary of the external characteristic of the knock limitation. The
green curve is the threshold of the maximum load with nearly zero
It has been proven that near-zero emission can be achieved by lean
emission. The working conditions located under the green curve can also
combustion with high-pressure injection early injection. The next step is
achieve near-zero emission by adopting leaner mixture combustion and
enhancing the power and economic performance of the engine, and
earlier injection. The black dotted line represents the maximum λ with a
these targets can be evaluated by the brake thermal efficiency (BTE) and
wide-open throttle and a low coefficient of vibration of IMEP. To
BMEP.
maintain the stability of combustion and operation, working conditions
Fig. 10 shows the variation trend of BTE and BMEP of optimizing the
located below the black curves require throttle control. The red color
near-zero emission hydrogen engines. The experimental data are
block means that NOx emissions still exist that cannot be eliminated by
divided into three parts by the dotted cycle. First, the black cycle rep­
optimization and require exhaust posttreatment, while the green color
resents the research of the prototype natural-aspired hydrogen engine
block represents the working conditions located in this region that can
that is used to prove the feasibility of near-zero emission. Second, the
all achieve near-zero emissions. It occupied approximately two-thirds of
green cycle gradually moves up with the processing of the design and
the whole size; in other words, the majority of working conditions can
optimization of the turbocharger, reaching approximately 8 bar BMEP
achieve near-zero original emission after optimization. In the region of

16 Naturally aspired
NOx 20ppm
Turbocharged 22 Rich mixture combustion
14 Better turbocharged+low injection pressure Knock control
20
Brake mean effective pressure bar

Better turbocharged+high injection pressure

12
18
10 Combustion optimization
BMEP bar

16 Miller cycle
EGR
8 Naturally aspired CR=10
14 Turbocharged CR=10
6 Better turbocharged CR=13
12 Highest efficiency CR=13
4 Higher compress ratio
Full load CR=13
10 Better turbo-charger matching
2
8 Turbo-charged
0 Lean mixture combustion
20 25 30 35 40 45 6
EGR
Brake Thermal efficiency %
4
10 100 1000 10000
Fig. 10. BTE and BMEP of near-zero emission conditions for NOx emission ppm
various conditions.
Fig. 12. BMEP changes with NOx for various techniques.
6
L.-z. Bao et al.
44 Combustion optimization Rich mixture combustion
Miller cycle
Knock control
42
Brake thermal efficiency %
40
Higher compress ratio
Better turbo-charger matching
38
EGR
Naturally aspired CR=10
36 Turbocharged CR=10
Better turbocharged CR=13
Turbo-charged Highest efficiency CR=13
34
Full load CR=13
32 EGR+Lean mixture combustion
30
10 100 1000
NOx emission ppm
Fig. 13. BTE changes with NOx for various techniques.
near-zero emission, the maximum BMEP can reach 13.3 bar@3000 rpm,
which equals 212.8 N⋅m@3000 rpm, the maximum power stands at 71
kW@3500 rpm, and the highest BTE arrives at 40.4% @2000 rpm.
Fig. 12 and Fig. 13 indicate the relationship among the BMEP, BTE,
and NOx emissions, including the former applied methods such as
exhaust gas recirculation (EGR) and different compression ratios (CR).
The original working conditions start from the bottom right corner of
both figures, where the NOx emission amounts to 1429 ppm, the BMEP
reaches 6 bar, and BTE remains at a relatively low level. With the help of
EGR and lean mixture combustion, the NOx emission decreases signifi­
cantly while keeping the load and the thermal efficiency constant.
Increasing the compression ratio and equipping the turbocharger triple
the BMEP and improve the efficiency by approximately 10%, which are
demonstrated to be critical methods of achieving near-zero emission.
However, the trade-off relationships among power, efficiency and NOx
emissions work when pursuing the highest power and efficiency. It is
inevitable to sacrifice the NOx emission to realize the target of 42% BTE
and 20 bar BMEP. In this way, a series of NOx after-treatment systems
are required to achieve near-zero emission for all working conditions.
4. Conclusion
NOx emissions below 20 ppm can be regarded as near-zero emissions
for hydrogen engines since they are far below the emission standards.
Turbochargers can recover energy from the exhaust gases and provide
large boost pressure, the turbocharged direct-injection engine can ach­
ieve large power and high brake thermal efficiency with near-zero
emission. The near-zero emission characteristics were optimized, and
a considerable result was achieved. The conclusions are listed as follows.
Leaner combustion is required to achieve near-zero emission for a
high-speed turbocharged engine. λ exceeding 2.62 at 2000 rpm gua­
rantees near-zero emission, while it increases to λ = 3.29 at 3000 rpm.
The mixing duration of 3000 rpm only takes 35 ◦ CA, and the intake
pressure reaches 216 kPa compared to 70 ◦ CA and 156 kPa at 2000 rpm.
Therefore, leaner mixture combustion is required to reduce the com­
bustion temperature from 1370 K to 1220 K. The BMEP of both engine
speed cases with different λ can reach 9 bar with near-zero emission.
Advancing injection is required to offer sufficient mixing duration
and achieve near-zero emission with high engine speed or low injection
pressure. The injection before SOI = − 120 ◦ CA guarantees near-zero
emission with engine speeds of 1500 rpm and 2000 rpm, and it drops
to − 160 ◦ CA at 2500 rpm.
The decrease in the injection pressure leads to the loss of power with
near-zero emission at a high engine speed. The maximum BMEP of the
14 MPa injection pressure reaches 13.3 bar at 3000 rpm. It will decrease
Fuel 319 (2022) 123746
by approximately 15% and 42% with 10 MPa and 6 MPa injection
pressures, respectively. λ increases from 2.73 to 3.5 at injection pres­
sures of 14 MPa and 6 MPa, respectively.
The turbocharger and high injection pressure have a substantial in­
fluence on enhancing the power and improving the efficiency of the
near-zero emission hydrogen engine. The power of the naturally aspired
engine is improved over 2.5 times, reaching 12.1 bar with the utilization
of a proper turbocharger and 14 MPa injection pressure. The brake
thermal efficiency also increased by 10.4%, rising significantly from
30% to 40.4%.
Approximately two-thirds of the working conditions of hydrogen
engines can achieve near-zero original emission after optimization. In
the region of near-zero emission, the maximum BMEP can reach 13.3
bar@3000 rpm, which equals 212 N∙m@3000 rpm, the maximum
power stands at 71 kW@3500 rpm, and the highest BTE arrives at 40.4%
@2000 rpm. This demonstrates that a 2.0 L turbocharged direction in­
10000 jection hydrogen engine can directly drive a passenger vehicle with
nearly zero NOx emissions.
CRediT authorship contribution statement
Ling-zhi Bao: Investigation, Methodology, Data curation, Writing –
original draft. Bai-gang Sun: Supervision, Conceptualization. Qing-he
Luo: Writing – review & editing.
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
No
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