Range anxiety is the biggest problem with zero-emission cars today (well, along with the lack of sufficient refueling infrastructure). However, a new fuel has arrived not only to surpass hydrogen, but to save you from refuelling almost forever, or at least as you knew it until now: it is 100% clean and is going to revolutionize the world of motoring.
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With regards to AFRs, other than electricity, it is a little hard for people to easily think of ammonia. This is an odorless shadeless gas that is composed of one nitrogen molecule and one hydrogen molecule and more famously known by its smell and common use in cleaning.
Ammonia was not widely studied before as a potential blueprint for eco-friendly vehicles; however, the latest innovations in the car manufacturing sector have brought it to the forefront as a subject of critical importance in the search for effective solutions for making car transportation more environmentally friendly.
The physical and chemical properties of ammonia, especially the high content of hydrogen, can be attributed to its suitability for fuel usage. Compared with gasoline or diesel, ammonia is not a carbon based fuel and when it is burned it doesn’t emit carbon dioxide at all, thus making it a near-zero emissions fuel.
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One of the industry’s most significant breakthroughs was recently marked when the Chinese company Guangzhou Automobile Group Motor (GAC) launched the first engine for automobiles fuelled with ammonia in the world.
This revelation has revolutionized the automotive industry due to the innovation that GAC has introduced through this engine, which is useful in driving car using ammonia, a carbon-free fuel. Ammonia has been researched for numerous purposes, but its utilization in passenger vehicles is quite innovative.
The engine, however, has been tested and validated after receiving several years of intensive research and development work. Horizontal ammonia burners present many technical problems: engineers working at GAC have successfully solved them all diverse burners, and the combustibility of the primary fuel ammonia.
Whether by way of complex combustion processes or mechanical solutions, GAC has designed an engine that is able to ignite ammonia and in doing so, deliver the necessary horsepower and torque to for locomotion. This great invention proves that GAC is rapidly advancing the realm of automotive technology.
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As mentioned before, ammonia is an NH3 molecule containing nitrogen and hydrogen and it is another candidate for a combustion fuel, however there are some drawbacks: ammonia has high auto-ignite point and narrow flammable range.
The engine type used is a compression ignition mode which is a conventional type of diesel engine. In the intake stroke, Ammonia as the working fluid is mixed with air and drawn into the cylinder. During this process, a relatively small amount of gasoline or diesel is squirted into the cylinder.
This burning procedure produces the required heat and pressure to start ammonia decomposition to produce nitrogen and hydrogen. The flame ignites the resulting hydrogen and burns it, in order to produce power for the next working cycle of the engine.
As you can see, ammonia as a fuel is a proposal with which the sector seeks to reinvent itself and not rely exclusively on hydrogen or electric vehicles, which now have a tough competitor. The most curious thing of all? There are already some brands that are developing the first engines for cars (we say that it is curious, because until now there were even for boats).