Race towards net zero emissions (NZE) by 2050: Reviewing a decade of research on hydrogen-fuelled internal combustion engines (ICE)

Abstract

Hydrogen fuel offers promising decarbonization pathways for hard-to-electrify transport sectors such as long-haul trucking, international maritime, and aviation. The internal combustion engine (ICE) is and will continue to be an important technology in the transition to net zero emissions (NZE), especially in the transport sector. In this review, for the first time, the research trend, hotspots, and evolutionary nuances of hydrogen-fuelled ICE have been investigated. Our analysis reveals that while earlier research primarily focused on the performance and emission characteristics of hydrogen-fuelled ICE, recent studies are increasingly paying more attention to combustion and emission control strategies. NOx emissions have received a lot of attention, as it is the most important pollutant of hydrogen engines. Several techniques, such as exhaust gas recirculation (EGR), water injection, and lean combustion, have been pre-dominantly adopted and studied for controlling NOx emissions. Another major research area in the field has centered on combustion anomalies such as backfiring and knocking, which are key setbacks to the hydrogen-fuelled ICE. Owing to its ability to produce fewer emissions and greater performance than diesel-only operation, hydrogen in diesel engines as dual fuel has also become a major research hotspot in the field within the last decade. Our analysis also showed that there is a strong interest in this field, where researchers are focusing on the use of hydrogen with other alternative fuels such as methane, natural gas, biogas, biodiesel, ammonia, and methanol for optimal operation of the ICE. Finally, we provide some critical challenges and potential solutions related to the use of hydrogen as an ICE fuel. It is anticipated that the results from the present work will pave the way for the development of hydrogen engine research for the continuous fight to decarbonize the transport sector.