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 combustion, injection processes and safety.

The importance of this technical subject is such that the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Arts et Métiers, the Prisme laboratory of the university of Orléans and the SIA are organizing jointly a specific one conference day focusing on injection and combustion of hydrogen in engines. This conference day will provide relevant suggestions to make this technology commercially viable. Conference topics include fundamentals of hydrogen combustion, details on the different mixture formation strategies and their emissions characteristics, measures to convert existing injection and combustion systems.

This day will provide an opportunity to 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. With even better environmental performance, the hydrogen internal combustion engine will be able to take full advantage of its position as a carbon neutral power drive.

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