The Canadian Government has taken a fresh approach to the reducing emissions of its heavy vehicle fleet by backing a new project to test co-combustion engines using a mixture of hydrogen and a primary fuel such as diesel.
A $1.4 million (about $1.5 million AUD) grant has been allocated for research and development of the concept with Hydra Energy Canada Corporation in Delta, British Columbia.
This project is focused on optimising retrofitted hydrogen co-combustion engines in heavy-duty trucks, which are relatively new to the Canadian transportation market.
Hydrogen co-combustion engines use hydrogen alongside a primary fuel, such as diesel, to reduce tailpipe greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.
The project aims to increase the proportion of hydrogen in the combustion process as well as to develop machine learning to improve vehicle performance, fuel consumption and emissions reductions, which is also expected to result in lower operating costs.
Canadian Minister of Energy and Natural Resources Tim Hodgson says the project would help advance the country’s emissions targets.
“Canadian innovators like Hydra Energy are developing the technologies we need to support our clean transportation industry,” Hodgson says.
“This project is showing that reducing emissions saves money for operators and makes our economy more competitive.
“Together with industry, we’re investing in advanced technology to support the strongest, cleanest economy in the G7.”
Hydra Energy Canada Corporation’s Co-Founder and Chief Information Officer Badr Abduljawad says the support will help his company to advance their technology.
“This substantial support will be instrumental in expediting the advancement of our hydrogen–diesel co-combustion technology,” Abduljawad says.
“This collaboration is fundamental in creating a pathway to significantly decrease the GHG emissions of the transportation industry while providing an affordable demand solution for the hydrogen sector to scale.”