Assessment of the Use of a Passive Pre-Chamber in a Marine Engine Fueled with Ammonia–Hydrogen Mixtures

Gabriele D’Antuono, Enzo Galloni (), Davide Lanni (), Gianpaolo D’Andrea and Gustavo Fontana
Additional contact information
Gabriele D’Antuono: Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, 03043 Cassino, Italy
Enzo Galloni: Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, 03043 Cassino, Italy
Davide Lanni: Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, 03043 Cassino, Italy
Gianpaolo D’Andrea: Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, 03043 Cassino, Italy
Gustavo Fontana: Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, 03043 Cassino, Italy

Energies, 2025, vol. 18, issue 21, 1-18

Abstract: This study investigates the combustion process in a marine spark-ignition engine fueled with an ammonia–hydrogen blend (15% hydrogen by volume) using a passive pre-chamber. A 3D-CFD model, supported by a 1D engine model, was employed to analyze equivalence ratios between 0.7 and 0.9 and pre-chamber nozzle diameters from 7 to 3 mm. Results indicate that combustion is consistently initiated by turbulent jets, but at an equivalence ratio of 0.7, the charge combustion is incomplete. For lean mixtures, reducing nozzle size improves flame propagation, although not sufficiently to ensure stable operation. At an equivalence ratio of 0.8, reducing the nozzle diameter from 7 to 5 mm advances CA50 by about 6 CAD, while further reduction causes minor variations. At richer conditions, nozzle diameter plays a negligible role. Optimal performance was achieved with a 7 mm nozzle at equivalence ratio 0.8, delivering about 43% efficiency and 1.17 MW per cylinder.

Keywords: sustainable engines; ammonia; hydrogen; maritime sector; pre-chamber (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/21/5664/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/18/21/5664/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jeners:v:18:y:2025:i:21:p:5664-:d:1781792

Access Statistics for this article

Energies is currently edited by Ms. Cassie Shen

More articles in Energies from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().