Greener engine technology can cut CO2 emissions by up to 20%

Thu 05 November 2009 View all news

New generation 'greener' engine technology which uses fuel in a flameless, low temperature combustion process, has the potential to reduce fuel consumption and carbon emissions by 20%. The Homogenous Charge Compression Ignition Engine (HCCI) has been developed by Dundee-based Oxy-Gen Combustion Ltd. The project has been supported by the Michelin Development loans fund.

According to its inventors, the HCCI engine combines the emissions benefits of a gasoline engine with the low fuel consumption of a diesel engine. The technology has been developed by the Managing Director of Oxy-Gen Combustion Ltd, David Tonery, who invented the enabling HCCI technology while a mechanical engineering undergraduate at the University of Dundee.

HCCI combustion is fundamentally different from the conventional spark ignition gasoline engines and compression ignition diesel engines in a number of ways:

  • The lean mixture of air and fuel is mixed prior to entering the combustion chamber before it is ignited at various ignition points creating an almost simultaneous flameless burn of all the air and fuel present.
  • This rapid, low temperature combustion process produces ultra-low Nox and particulate emissions, eliminating the need for complex after treatment systems
  • The mixture of air and fuel is so lean that fuel consumption and CO2 emissions is reduced by as much as 20% and potentially could be reduced by 30%

The HCCI technology has attracted interest from across the automotive industry.  Last year it was awarded the Shell Springboard Award for Low Carbon Technology and more recently the LowCVP's Technology Challenge (see associated link) has opened the door to the inventors to follow up the concept with leading manufacturers in the automotive industry.

David Tonery, Managing Director of Oxy-Gen said: “We have developed an engine that has the capacity to revolutionise the automotive industry. The HCCI concept has been around for 30 years but no one has been able to control and sustain the auto ignition process. The Oxy-Gen Combustion has been able to develop a concept that can achieve sustained HCCI operation, paving the way for widespread commercialisation.”

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