German industrial giant Liebherr is developing an internal combustion engine that doesn't use gasoline or diesel. Instead, ammonia is the answer.
The German company Liebherr has announced the development of an internal combustion engine that is not dependent on gasoline or diesel.
Instead, it is designed to run on ammonia.
The Germans expect to be able to present the engine to the public at the Bauma fair, an international fair for the construction and mining industry, in Munich.
The company writes this in a press release .
According to Liebherr, ammonia is a viable alternative to hydrogen. At least within the industry. The company has invested heavily in the development of ammonia-powered engines with the aim of reducing emissions from heavy vehicles.
In this connection, they have also created a so-called hydraulic air boost system. The system is designed to supply air to the engine as needed.
The Germans expect this to result in lower fuel consumption and a faster-reacting engine.
"We recover and store energy from our hydraulic systems and use it to quickly supply air to the engine when needed. This improves both efficiency and performance," says Bouzid Seba, Head of Pre-Development at Liebherr.
The hydraulic air boost system, which has already been tested in connection with hydrogen engines, can also optimize ammonia engines and contribute to reduced fuel consumption. Just as it should be able to improve fuel economy.
Liebherr expects that internal combustion engines using cleaner fuels such as ammonia will be part of a solution towards a more sustainable transport sector.
It is relevant to mention that other manufacturers such as the Chinese GAC and Toyota have also worked on the development of ammonia engines. But these are for passenger cars.
It is far too early to say whether the technology has any future, however. In fact, Toyota is now openly saying that it has doubts about hydrogen cars. Read more about it here .
