I’ve been hearing quite a bit over the past year about hydrogen fuel injection (HFI) technology, and how it’s a way today of dramatically improving fuel efficiency and reducing pollutants from diesel-fuelled vehicles. It’s also being pitched as a “bridge” to the hydrogen economy and the age of mass market fuel-cell vehicles. The Energy Blog had an entry recently about how truck drivers are beginning to retrofit their rigs with hydrogen-injection systems, in this case from a Bowmanville, Ontario-based company called Canadian Hydrogen Energy Co. This seems to be a field that Canada has cornered, for better or worse. There are two other Ontario companies I know of – Dynamic Fuel Systems Inc. (JetStar) and Hy-Drive Technologies Ltd. — that market the same kind of technology and are making similar claims. All three have taken legal action against each other, claiming patent infringement.

The big question is: Does this technology work? The idea is that you fit a diesel vehicle with an on-board electrolysis unit that produces small amounts of hydrogen from distilled water. That hydrogen is then injected into the air intake manifold of the vehicle, mixing with the air and allowing a more complete combustion of the fuel. The hydrogen, even in small amounts, allows the mixture to burn hotter and, as a result, fewer pollutants result and engine efficiency increases. Theoretically.

Personally, when somebody from one of these companies explains how the technology works, I’m sold. It makes sense. Canadian Hydrogen Energy Company in particular got an added shot of credibility when Steve Gilchrist, former alternative energy commissioner of Ontario, joined the company as a vice-president. But in talking with some fleet operators, there’s a lot of skepticism in the market that shouldn’t be ruled out.

Even if we are to believe hydrogen fuel injection works in principle, are the claims of these companies valid? Canadian Hydrogen Energy Company, for example, guarantees at least 10 per cent in fuel savings and talks about a 50 per cent reduction in exhaust emissions. The company also frequently refers to the fact that it has been certified by the Environmental Technology Verification Program, which is a joint venture of Environment Canada and Industry Canada to provide “credible and independent verification of technology performance claims.”

But if you look at what the ETV program has verified, you find only a 4.44 per cent reduction in fuel consumption, a 6.17 per cent reduction in total hydrocarbon emissions, a 4.34 per cent reduction in NOx, and a 7 per cent reduction in particulate matter. Not that these don’t represent an improvement, but they certainly don’t measure up to the claims.

With respect to Dynamic Fuel Systems, engineers from Environment Canada released a report in January on the company’s technology (NOTE: I have deleted access to this report at the request of Dynamic Fuel, which challenges the accurancy of the report’s findings and had their lawyers send a polite request to take it down). The report wasn’t favourable — let’s keep it at that.

Bill Brown, manager of vehicle engineering at the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), isn’t convinced the energy balance offered by using the technology is a win for customers. “The energy requirement to develop hydrogen from water through an electrolysis process, which they’re doing from the vehicle as they drive along, is really intense energy.”

Not surprisingly, the TTC is among those who are skeptical of hydrogen fuel injection claims.

So there you go — food for thought. I wouldn’t count myself as a complete skeptic, but accepting hydrogen-fuel injection claims at face value could lead you down the path of disappointment. All that said, I don’t rule out the potential. In fact, MIT is taking part in a hydrogen-injection project, which to me lends some credibility to the concept. Perhaps the skeptics will be proven wrong.

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