Hrein Energy Inc, Futaba Industrial Co Ltd, Ito Racing Service Co Ltd and Masaru Ichikawa, professor emeritus of Hokkaido University, has successfully test-drove the world first organic hydride hydrogen vehicle: a commercially available 1,200 cc engine vehicle retrofitted with a high-performance “on-board dehydrogenation reactor” that enables dehydrogenation of organic hydride utilizing the heat from the exhaust system and rapid supply of hydrogen to the engine.
Adding several percent of hydrogen dehydrogenated from organic hydride to the intake air resulted in a lean-burn (a state of combustion at/above the air-fuel ratio 25) whose concentration has never been made possible with gasoline alone. Consequently, the fuel efficiency was improved by 30% and the CO2 emissions cut, also by 30%. In addition, concentrations of CO and NOx have also been considerably reduced.
The test drive was conducted in the circuit of SPA Nishiura Motor Park in Gamagori, Aichi Prefecture in Japan on 21st of February, 2008. Hrein Energy considers that it will take long to put fuel-cell vehicles to practical use and, therefore, plans to use hydrogen extracted from organic hydride to enhance the fuel efficiency of gasoline vehicles for a starter.
