The Hindu : Kerala / Thiruvananthapuram News : Students develop alternative fuel system for two-wheelers

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Monday, Jun 15, 2009
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Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram

Students develop alternative fuel system for two-wheelers

Special Correspondent

MECHANICAL INNOVATION: A dual carburettor system that enables a two-wheeler to run on a mixture of hydrogen and ethanol, developed by a team of students from Mohandas College of Engineering, Thiruvananthapuram.

Thiruvananthapuram: A team of students from Mohandas College of Engineering here has developed an experimental system to operate a two-wheeler on a mixture of hydrogen and ethanol.

The team comprising Sonu John, N.S. Gopikrishnan, R.R. Remesh Shanker and Chintu Salam, all students of Mechanical Engineering, developed the alternative fuel system as part of their academic project. In the process, the students demonstrated the efficacy of hydrogen-ethanol mixture in running vehicles. Assistant Professor Muraleedharan Nair guided the team.

Storage

While hydrogen was used to enhance the low calorific value of ethanol, storing the explosive gas posed a major challenge for the students. To overcome this problem, the team used a 16-plate electrolyser unit for on board production of hydrogen, thereby eliminating the need to store it.

The two-wheeler used for the experiment was refitted with a dual carburettor system, one for liquid ethanol and the other for hydrogen gas. A throttle splitter was provided to control the fuel supply to both carburettors while a no- return valve reducer assembly was used to prevent the chance of an explosion due to backfiring in the engine. By turning off the second carburettor, the vehicle can switch back from hydrogen-ethanol to petrol.

The students claim that the experimental two-wheeler returns a mileage of 72 km a litre, compared to the 76 km a litre of petrol. “By using hydrogen, we could maintain the power output. Pollution is also minimal because the major exhaust gases are steam and carbon dioxide,” says Sonu John. “At Rs.30 a litre, industrial ethanol is cheaper than petrol”, he points out.

The students developed the system at a cost of Rs.7,000.

Patent

The team is planning to file a patent for the system and then approach automobile manufacturers. They feel that mass production of ethanol would reduce the cost of fuel and reduce the country’s dependence on fuel imports.

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