Hydrogen a new fuel for internal combustion engines

The depletion of fossil fuels and the strict emissions regulations have motivated researchers to find and invest considerable resources in finding new renewable fuels. Hydrogen can be used in automotive industry to control the pollutant emissions and to improve engine performances. However, the producing of hydrogen is expensive, the supply infrastructure is not ready and the engines are affected by knocking phenomena and the increase of NOx emissions. The focus is now in the research of advance combustion technologies such dual fuel engines, homogeneous charge compression ignition (HCCI) and low-temperature combustion (LTC). The main limitations, challenges and perspectives are presented. (paper)