Hydrogen engine hits 60% efficiency with zero emissions, rivals diesel in power output

The concept uses hydrogen, oxygen, and argon to enable stable combustion. Aristidis Dafis and Hermann Rottengruber, PhD, with a one-cylinder experimental engine. Jana Dünnhaupt / Uni Magdeburg Researchers in Germany have recently unveiled a hydrogen-powered engine that could challenge diesel in some of the toughest applications by operating without emissions and achieving efficiency levels above 60 percent. Developed by a research team at the Otto-von-Guericke University Magdeburg, the so-called hydrogen cycle engine operates in a closed loop and reuses most of its working gases after each cycle. The project was led by Hermann Rottengruber, PhD, a professor at the university’s...