The world's first heavy-duty commercial vehicle high-pressure direct-injection pure ammonia internal combustion engine successfully ignited.

On April 26, the mid-term meeting of the national key R&D program "Key Technology Development and Application of Ammonia-Fueled Engine for Heavy-duty Commercial Vehicles with Hybrid Power" was held in Changshu, Jiangsu. The first pure ammonia prototype machine developed in the project successfully ignited and operated stably, marking a milestone progress in the project. The successful ignition of the world's first large-displacement hybrid-specific high-pressure direct-injection ammonia-fueled engine achieved the synergy operation with high-pressure ammonia hydrogen production system and the landing and verification of the technology of direct-injection liquid ammonia ignition by pre-chamber jet in high-pressure direct injection. This internal combustion engine integrates several advanced core technologies such as pent-roof combustion chamber, active pre-chamber, high-pressure direct injection in liquid ammonia cylinder, coupling of post-treatment for low-temperature high-efficiency multi-nitrogen product conversion and intelligent control of cooperative injection of multi-hydrogen-based fuels. Its thermal efficiency is equal to the highest thermal efficiency of existing heavy-duty diesel engines, creating a new zero-carbon power solution for heavy-duty long-haul commercial vehicles that balances the advantages of overall lifecycle costs and the low-carbon emission requirements, promoting the transformation of traditional internal combustion engines towards green carbonization. The ammonia hydrogen production system carried in this ignition adopts the technology route of catalytic high-pressure hydrogen production by crackling, breaking through the technical barriers of efficient catalytic conversion of ammonia at low temperature and high pressure conditions. The system is equipped with a new low-temperature ruthenium-based catalyst, which can achieve efficient hydrogen production from ammonia in the low temperature range of 400C to 450C, significantly reducing the energy consumption and high-temperature loss of hydrogen production equipment.