Hydrogen Internal Combustion Engines & Vehicles

A look back on the conference

After the 160 experts who travelled to the Arts et Métiers school in Châlons en Champagne in 2021, no fewer than 280 participants gathered at the PRISME laboratory in Orleans on 30 March for the second edition of this conference dedicated to hydrogen as a power source for internal combustion engines.

In addition to the increase in the number of participants, the special feature of this edition was the opportunity to discuss the first applications, with the presentation of three engines and two vehicles that have already accumulated test kilometres.

The participants, who arrived in Orleans the day before the event, had the opportunity to visit the PRISME laboratory, whose work is aimed at better understanding and modelling the behaviour of hydrogen in the very specific conditions of combustion chambers.

During the conference itself, presentations by representatives of research centres, equipment manufacturers and car manufacturers allowed us to measure the very rapid increase in the maturity of all the players.

What are the main lessons learned from these exchanges? There are many, but the most important is that the hydrogen internal combustion engine works, that it is very close to the fossil fuel engines currently in circulation, that it already achieves efficiencies close to those of diesel and that it does not emit CO2.

While these initial results are promising, a number of technical issues still need to be addressed before this technology can be mass-produced, which would allow a large proportion of the fleet to be decarbonised quickly and at lower cost.

It is also interesting to note that many players have been able to combine their efforts through consortia under the aegis of research institutes such as the PRISME laboratory.
Collaboration and speed therefore seem to be the key words in this field of application which, like the hydrogen molecule, is spreading at breakneck speed!

So, see you in 2024 for a third edition of this day?

Introduction

Copie de JE Hydrogen

The registrations are closed, we have now reached the full capacity !

The replacement of fossil fuels by hydrogen for internal combustion engines operation is today one of the scientific research topics having a great interest for commercial vehicle manufacturers and equipment suppliers. Since the hydrogen is produced by the electrolysis of water using renewable electricity, combustion engines can thus be considered as decarbonized powertrains in the same way as battery electric propulsion, which is clearly favoured by all car manufacturers. However, this propulsion solution is still not affordable and not yet fully compatible with applications requiring long autonomy such as heavy-duty vehicles, boats, and airplanes, due to the requirement of large size and high weight batteries.

Compared to electricity, using hydrogen as an energy carrier is advantageous in terms of volumetric and gravimetric energy storage density. Also, this hydrogen propulsion solution presents many advantages compared to fuel cell electric vehicle especially in terms of packaging, durability, robustness against hydrogen quality and requirement of precious metals such as Platinum, Lithium, Cobalt or Nickel. However, studies and research are still needed to resolve the remaining issues associated with hydrogen combustion processes, aftertreatment and safety.

After the first conference day on hydrogen injection and combustion in engines organized in May 2022, which nevertheless gathered 170 participants, the Prisme laboratory of the university of Orléans and the SIA are organizing jointly a second conference day on 30^th March 2023 in Orléans focusing on hydrogen engine operation, control, and integration on vehicle. This event will be a great opportunity to exhibit engine and vehicle hardware and meet the leading specialists in this field, from the automotive industry, the associated equipment manufacturers, from the alternative energies industry, and representatives of major research laboratories and universities.

We look forward to welcoming you in Orléans in March 2023!

COMMITTEE

Chairmen

Fabrice FOUCHER – University of Orléans

Noureddine GUERRASSI – BorgWarner

Membres

Philippe BERNET – SIA

Christophe CALLENS – Valeo

Frédéric CHARON – SIA

Philippe CHINA – TotalEnergies

Antoine DUCLOUX – Michelin

Emmanuel JEAN – Faurecia

Marc LEJEUNE – Volvo

Jean-Philippe LELIEVRE – Groupe Renault

Dominique MARTINEAU – Vitesco Technologies

Jean-Philippe MERCIER – Groupe Renault

Gaëtan MONNIER – IFPEN

Jérôme MORTAL – Valeo

Joël OP DE BEECK – Plastic Omnium

Sébastien POTTEAU – Emitech

Claudine ROCHETTE – Valeo

Rémy SCHMITT – Bosch

Arnaud TELLIER – IAV

Program

March 30

08:00

Attendees registration & coffee

08:45

Welcome introduction and opening address

Eric Blond, President of the University of Orléans

Fabrce Foucher & Noureddine Guerrassi, Chairmen

Pascal Tebibel, Vice president Attractivity, Promotion of the territory of Orleans Métropole

Anne Besnier, VP Research and Innovation of the Region Centre Val de Loire

HYDROGEN INJECTION & COMBUSTION PROCESSES Chairman: Fabrice Foucher