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Hydrogen is one of the most promising alternate fuels due to its clean burning characteristics and better performance as compared to fossil fuels. In addition to the need for finding effective solutions to the problem of air pollution from combustion processes, increasing pressure is being placed to find alternative fuel to replace the rapidly depleting petroleum fuels. Numerous research works have been carried out on using hydrogen as a fuel in Spark Ignition (SI) engine. However the major drawback of using hydrogen in a SI engine is the reduction in power output of the engine by about 30% in addition to problems like pre ignition, back fire and knocking at higher loads. Hence the use of hydrogen in a SI engine is limited.

During the last decade the use of alternative fuels for diesel engine has received renewed attention. The interdependence and uncertainty of petroleum based fuel availability and environmental issues, most notably air pollution are among the principal forces behind the movement towards alternative sources of energy. The main pollutants from the conventional hydrocarbon fuels are unburned / partially burned hydrocarbon (UHC), carbon monoxide (CO), oxides of Nitrogen (NOx), smoke and particulate matter. These emissions are harmful to human, animal and plant life. Emissions from automobiles are currently a dominant source of air pollution representing 70 % of carbon monoxide, 41 % of oxides of Nitrogen (NOx), 38 % of hydrocarbon emissions globally. In addition 25 % of the man made CO2 emissions globally adds to the green house effect, which results in global warming. In the present investigation hydrogen is used in a diesel engine in the dual fuel mode using diesel as an ignition source.