International Journal of Mechanical and Production Engineering Research and Development (IJMPERD) ISSN(P): 2249-6890; ISSN(E): 2249-8001 Vol. 8, Special Issue 8, Oct 2018, 181-186 © TJPRC Pvt. Ltd. THE ELECTROLYSIS OF WATER TO GENERATE HYDROGEN (HHO) AND A STUDY OF THE EFFECT OF ADDITION OF HHO TO GASOLINE AS AN ENGINE PERFORMANCE IMPROVER S. SHINGANE, C. H. DORABABU, P. SANTOSH KUMAR, P. L. N. NAIDU, K. R. V. SUBRAMANIAN & T. NAGESWARA RAO Department of Mechanical Engineering, GITAM School of Technology, Nagadenahalli, Dodballapur Taluk, Bangalore, India ABSTRACT The purpose of this work is to fabricate a simple innovative HHO generation system through the process of water electrolysis and evaluate the effect of hydroxyl gas HHO addition to petrol, used as fuel in 4-stroke engine. HHO cell is optimized for maximum HHO gas productivity per input power. The type of catalyst is varied with potassium hydroxide as the optimized system. The results showed that the maximum productivity of the cell was 68 L/h HHO gas when 6 g/L of KOH is used. The results also showed 55% in the gasoline engine thermal efficiency. Received: Jul 24, 2018; Accepted: Aug 14, 2018; Published: Nov 09, 2018; Paper Id.: IJMPERDSPL201821 INTRODUCTION Background Information H2 (hydrogen gas) is being considered as an alternative fuel to enhance engine efficiency and produce less pollution. This is not feasible in a commercial point of view as it increases the manufacturing cost and impacts the vehicle market price. Mohamed El-Kassaby [1] have designed, integrated and tested a compact HHO generating device on a gasoline engine. Their results showed that fuel consumption was reduced approximately by 34%. The effect of HHO addition on SI engines was studied by Kuware [2] et al. their results reported a reduction in Specific Fuel consumption (SFC) of 20-30%. The effect of H2 enrichment on a diesel engine was studied by Dahake [3] et al and reported an increase in both the thermal and volumetric efficiencies. Shiva Prasad [4] et al has experimented on a single cylinder SI gasoline engine while injecting H2 in the intake manifold in volumetric fractions (Vf) of the intake air between 5% and 25%. The results reported a continuous increase in Bmep and thermal efficiency. Wang [5] et al. has conducted a number of experiments on a DI 4-cylinder gasoline engine to investigate the performance of H2/gasoline blends. In most of the experiments, the engine was operated in a city driving condition of 1400 rpm. Results in outline the general qualities offered by H2 without any other modifications to the engine. Notably, the spark timing of the original gasoline operation was not modified, despite the predictable fast combustion of H2/gasoline. The results demonstrate a most profound enhancement in Bmep and thermal efficiency in lean conditions, and an increase in peak cylinder pressure and an advance in the corresponding crank angle (CA) with the increase in H2%. Besides, the gasoline fuel flow was reduced with H2 enrichment – to maintain constant global mixture equivalence www.tjprc.org SCOPUS Indexed Journal editor@tjprc.org Original Article KEYWORDS: Electrolysis, Fuel & Thermal Efficiency 182 S. Shingane, C. H. Dorababu, P. Santosh Kumar, P. L. N. Naidu, K. R. V. Subramanian & T. Nageswara Rao and compare the engine performance with pure gasoline – so, lesser HCs content is in the fuel, which cuts the formation of CO, CO2 and HC and promotes economic fuel consumption. Furthermore, hydrogen has a higher diffusion coefficient than that of the gasoline, and so, the gaseous H2 can disperse thoroughly in the charge and allow for greater mixture homogeneity and combustion completeness. Hydrogen has a higher flame speed and its gasoline blend can be combusted faster. Still, as H2 addition widen the mixture flammability limit to leaner fuel equivalence, the reaction rate will be reduced and combustion would be prolonged in lean conditions. It was found that HHO-gasoline blends can provide a comparable performance to H2 blends. HHO was claimed to grant a greater enhancement in thermal efficiency. HHO was reported to reduce the CA of heat release duration. The unsolved problems exist in both the automobile product and manufacturing process. The IC engine technology, as such is one of the oldest. In the IC engine, petrol or diesel fuel gets converted to mechanical power by means of controlled combustion. So, we decided to reduce the emission of the vehicles by using HHO gas as the supplementary fuel. By using this fuel thermal and mechanical efficiencies are also increased. HHO gas is available in abundant form and can be extracted from many kinds of sources, in this case by water electrolysis. Material and Experimentation Stainless steel tumblers were used as the electrodes. There are 16 electrodes 16 × 20 × 0.2 cm thickness, arranged as shown in Figure 1 in the form (+, 2N, -), where (+) represents the positive electrode, (N) is neutral, and (-) is the negative electrode. The gap between adjacent tumblers was adjusted using rubber gaskets. In addition, cover plates were made of acrylic to provide visual indication of electrolyte level. HHO cell is supplied with electrical energy from the engine battery which is recharged by the engine alternator. The cell productivity was tested without being connected to the engine with 2 different catalysts, KOH and NaOH, to find the best electrolyte with the best concentration experimentally. Figure 1: Electrolyser for Generating HHO Gas Showing the Plate Arrangement Hydrogen and oxygen gases are directed to the engine intake manifold. According to the setup shown in Figure 2, the HHO gas leaves the separation tank and flows into the water open pool pushing the water down of the inverted graduated cylinder. The volume of gas collected in the graduated cylinder per unit of time was measured as the HHO flow rate. Therefore, the cell productivity can be calculated from the following equation: HHO productivity = volume/Time (1) First 1 litre of water was filled in the bottle, then KoH solution is added to the required amount. Around 3 to 6 grams of KoH was added to the water and the cap was closed tightly. The KoH salt was mixed with water thoroughly and poured into the HHO kit using funnel at certain level. Impact Factor (JCC): 7.6197 SCOPUS Indexed Journal NAAS Rating: 3.11 The Electrolysis of Water to Generate Hydrogen (HHO) and a Study of the Effect of Addition of HHO to Gasoline as an Engine Performance Improver 183 Figure 2: Setup for Calculating HHO Productivity All the pipes are connected according to the required flow. Some amount of petrol is poured into the engine and the engine is started. by using ideal screw to maintain the ideal required rpm. The power supply kit is switched on. The gas generated from the kit is made to pass through the water bubbler. This enables any vapor content present in it to be removed. It is further passed through the petrol bubbler so that it can reduce the burning efficiency of hydrogen and increase burning capabilities of petrol and consumption of petrol is reduced. Then the fuel is connected to the intake of the engine by placing the flash back arrester to it. When engine is started the throttle needs to be pulled continuously so that the required amount of air is sucked into the chamber and can burn the fuel continuously. The reading has to be noted and this process has to be done repeatedly and the time noted till the engine is run with and without HHO gas added to it. By using variation in KoH ion concentration the required gas flow can be achieved. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS Faraday's 1.24-volt minimum was based on the use of Battery Acid. It was discovered that a NaOH minimum voltage drop is 1.69, and KoH minimum voltage is 1.67. As it turns out, the electrolyte solution is affected by the voltage drop. Hence KoH solution was chosen based on the lower voltage drop. It can be calculated that from one plate, the production of H2 is 0.035 lit min-1 while production of O2 is 0.017 lit min-1. Total production of gas from one plate (HHO) = 0.0348336+0.017402 = 0.0522356 lit min-1 • The amount of gas generated from a HHO kit = ‘N’ * total amount of gas generated from each plate • N = no. of plates = 24 24*0.0522356 = 1.2536 lit min-1 6 small chips of KoH was established as optimum for the flow of gas to run the engine at a constant throttle. Table 1 shows the HHO gas evolution results. Maximum productivity is obtained when 6 g of KoH is added www.tjprc.org SCOPUS Indexed Journal editor@tjprc.org 184 S. Shingane, C. H. Dorababu, P. Santosh Kumar, P. L. N. Naidu, K. R. V. Subramanian & T. Nageswara Rao (550 ml evolved in 29 seconds) while minimum productivity is obtained for 3 g of KoH (550 ml evolved in 53 seconds). Table 1: HHO Gas Evolution Parameters Showing 6 g of KOH is Optimum for Gas Flow or Productivity SL. NO Amount of KOH (gms) Voltage (volts) Current (amp) Resistance (ohm) HHO Gas Generated ml/sec 1. 2. 3. 4. 3g 4g 5g 6g 24 24 24 24 6.3 6.8 8.8 10 3.96 3.52 2.72 2.4 550/53 550/48 550/37 550/29 Table 2 gives the engine specifications. For this configuration, the various parameters were calculated such as thermal efficiency, mechanical efficiency using hydrogen:petrol ratio 0.3:0.7 (corresponding calorific value was 30.6 MJ/kg) and the thermal efficiency was found to be 54.6% and the mechanical efficiency to be 69%. Table 2: Engine Specifications Engine Type Displacement Maximum Power Maximum Torque Bore And Stroke Compression Ratio Idle Speed No. Of Cylinders Cooling System 4 Stroke Single Cylinder OHC 97.20 CC 8.2bhp @ 8000rpm 7.95Nm @ 9000rpm 50mm X 49.5mm 9.1:1 1100RPM 1 Air Cooled The HHO system was connected to the engine through a flashback arrestor as shown in Figure 3 and HHO gas was introduced at varying times during the combustion cycle. Correspondingly, the total engine running time was measured as shown in Table 3. Table 3: Engine Performance with Addition of HHO Gas Sl. No Petrol (Ml) Engine Running Time Approx. (Min) 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 20 20 20 20 18 15 15 4.13 4.13 4.13 4.13 3.5 3 3 Addition of Modified Hydrogen Gas to Combustion Cycle at Point of Time NA At 3.17 At 2.44 At 4.10 At 2.3 At 2.50 At 2.3 Engine Running Time with Addition of Modified Hydrogen (Min) NA 4.13 4.53 4.24 4.44 4.31 4.14 Figure 3: Arrangement to Connect the HHO Electrolyser to the Engine Impact Factor (JCC): 7.6197 SCOPUS Indexed Journal NAAS Rating: 3.11 The Electrolysis of Water to Generate Hydrogen (HHO) and a Study of the Effect of Addition of HHO to Gasoline as an Engine Performance Improver 185 From this it is observed that when HHO gas is introduced at 2.44 min, the engine running time reaches a peak of 4.53 min. It has to be noted that base running time of engine only with petrol is 4.13 min with 20 ml of petrol. CONCLUSIONS The use of H2 or HHO produced by water electrolysis is investigated in gasoline engines. They provide advantages such as increased efficiency and peak pressure, and alleviate reduced mass of the cylinder charge. A hydrogen generator is designed and fabricated capable of delivering the required flow for optimum performance, and to be at an acceptable size and weight for installation on a passenger vehicle (such as a motorcycle engine). A thermal efficiency of 54.6% and mechanical efficiency of 69% was obtained. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT The support and encouragement from the Management of GITAM, Bangalore is gratefully acknowledged. REFERENCES 1. Elkasaby, Eldrainy Y, Khidr ME and Mohamed EI, “Effect of hydroxy (HHO) gas addition on gasoline engine performance and emissions”, Alexandria Engineering Journal Vol. 55, 2016, pp. 243-251. 2. Kuware RS and Kolhe AV, “Effect of hydroxy (HHO) gas addition on performance and exhaust emissions in spark ignition engine – a review”, IJIRSET Vol. 5, 2016, pp. 17913-17920. 3. Dahake MR, Patil SD and Patil SE, “Effect of hydroxy gas addition on performance and emissions of diesel engine”, IRJET Vol. 3, 2016, pp. 756-760. 4. Othman, A. A., Osman, M. A., Wahdan, M. H., & ABED-ELRAHIM, A. G. (2014). Thermal annealing and UV induced effects on the structural and optical properties of capping free ZnS nanoparticles synthesized by Co-precipitation method. International Journal of General Engineering and Technology, 3, 9-16. 5. Shiva Prasad KV, Raviteja S, Chitragar P and Kumar GN, “Experimental investigation of the effect of hydrogen addition on combustion performance and emissions characteristics of a spark ignition high speed gasoline engine”. Procedia Technology Vol. 14, 2014, pp. 141-148. 6. Wang J, Huang Z, Fang Y, Liu B, Zeng K, Miao H and D. Jiang, “Combustion behaviors of a direct-injection engine operating on various fractions of natural gas-hydrogen blends”. Int. J. Hydrogen Energy, Vol. 32, 2007, pp. 3555-3564. www.tjprc.org SCOPUS Indexed Journal editor@tjprc.org