The focus of the bulk of hydrogen research has been in the area of fuel cells with the result that there is limited awareness of more one of the more immediate applications for hydrogen, namely as a catalyst designed to improve the performance of existing hydro-carbon fuelled internal combustion engines.

Canadian Hydrogen Energy Company manufactures a patented Hydrogen Fuel Injection System (HFI) that disassociates hydrogen and oxygen from distilled water and injects them, in measured amounts, into the air intake system of any heavy-duty diesel or gasoline application including trucks, buses, ambulances, stationary generators, etc. In use on over 150 private and municipal fleets, the overwhelming evidence of significant improvements to fuel economy and to reductions in emissions is supported by over 60 million miles of field data over the past five years, as well as extensive third-party testing in both Canada and the United States.

The product has been further enhanced by the recent receipt of Environmental Technology Verification, the first emissions control technology, of any kind, to receive that designation in Canada, and the first hydrogen product to receive it, anywhere in the world. A comprehensive patent, with over 106 patent claims, has been granted in the U.S. and the current product represents the sixth generation of the technology.

The hydrogen acts as an initiator to promote more complete combustion, with remarkable results. The major benefits are dramatically reduced exhaust emissions, decreased fuel consumption (typically >10%), increased horsepower and reduced maintenance expenses. The science behind the success of HFI is threefold: the result of the faster laminar flame speed of hydrogen; the effect of “hydro-cracking” to breakdown longer diesel chains into shorter chains; and, a reaction between the hydrogen atoms and the diesel molecules whereby the hydrogen spontaneously forms highly concentrated clouds in and around the evaporating droplets of fuel. First researched by NASA and the Jet Propulsion Laboratories in 1974, the dramatic increase in fuel prices and the increasingly tougher emissions standards for new and used vehicles have provided the impetus for the market demands for cleaner, more fuel-efficient engines.

With fuel cell technology not expected to reach the point of commercial viability in transport applications for another 10 – 20 years, the HFI system offers the first large-scale transport application of hydrogen and serves as an excellent bridge to the fuel-cell technologies of the future. With no issues of sourcing or storage of gaseous hydrogen, HFI represents the only retrofit application of hydrogen on the one billion existing diesel and gasoline engines in use in the world today.