Dong Yin Talks: He was 20 years ahead of the Americans once

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The last edit to this post was made by Zhenzhen Youci on 2009-7-5 at 08:24. On May 17 of this year, **relevant officials from the Ministry of Science and Technology personally invited Dong Yin, an expert in hydrogen fuel internal combustion engines in China and a senior engineer at the Yunnan Provincial Science and Technology Commission, to Beijing to discuss new technologies for producing hydrogen from ethanol as a way to improve China’s automobile engine projects. Dong Yintan, this senior engineer in his early seventies, has finally reached the most crucial moment of his more than twenty-year career, as he has been looking forward to the development and application of this project for a very long time... Patents born from diligent study: In 1959, Dong Yintan graduated from the Department of Mathematics at Lanzhou University in Gansu Province and was assigned to work at the Yunnan Automobile Factory. After starting work, he frequently visited the finishing workshop, casting workshop, and assembly workshop to observe and learn, gaining a thorough understanding of the various aspects of automobile structure and manufacturing processes; in his free time, he completed all the courses required for his degree in mechanical manufacturing at university. One day, Dong Yintan read a report on patent technologies for energy conservation and environmental protection in automobiles in a foreign publication. This patent uses the exhaust gases from two car engines to heat gasoline, thereby cracking the gasoline into methane gas for combustion, in order to achieve energy conservation and environmental protection. After careful consideration and analysis, Dong Yintan believes that this patent is difficult to implement. This is because the cracking temperature of gasoline is above around 800°C, whereas the exhaust temperature from car engines is only between 350°C and 700°C. But he drew two conclusions from this: first, automobile engine exhaust can be used as a heat source that transforms waste into treasure; second, as long as a material suitable for cracking at exhaust temperatures is found, a new energy-saving and environmentally friendly technology for automobiles can be invented. After reviewing a large amount of information, Dong Yintan finally discovered that methanol and ethanol can be used for pyrolysis at exhaust gas temperatures; that is, with an exhaust temperature of 250°C to 300°C, the hydrogen-rich gas generated by the pyrolysis of these alcohols can be introduced into the cylinder to burn in place of fuel. The first global oil crisis that broke out in the 1970s left a deep impression on Dong Yintan’s mind. At that time, due to the difficulty in obtaining gasoline, many domestic trucks and buses, including public buses, were converted into charcoal vehicles that relied on burning charcoal to produce gas as fuel for moving forward. At that time, some scientists thought of hydrogen energy, but they extracted hydrogen from water through electrolysis, and the cost was incredibly high. Dong Yintan thought that if it were possible to use free vehicle exhaust gases to split inexpensive and renewable ethanol into hydrogen, the problem of high hydrogen production costs could be easily solved. Yet at this moment, the \"fate\" began, and all he could do was wait in silence. In 1978, **, who was then Vice Premier of the State Council, took charge of central affairs and convened a National Science and Technology Conference, bringing a spring of science to China. Dong Yintan, like intellectuals across the country, was overjoyed; he felt that the spring for intellectuals had arrived and that his dream of making inventions would come true. In 1985, Dong Yintan filed a patent application for his waste heat hydrogen production engine at the Kunming Patent Office in Yunnan Province. Having remained dormant for many years, it has regained attention. The patent technology for hydrogen production using residual heat was applied for by Dong Yintan in 1985 to the relevant authorities; based on this, the alcohol-based alternative fuel technology was identified as a key research project during the \"Sixth Five-Year Plan\" period, and significant progress was made in this area by 1988. On October 23 of that year, China’s first MH hydrogen fuel vehicle (a modified Dongfeng truck) was put into operation, marking it as the world’s first MH hydrogen fuel vehicle to run. To this day, Dong Yintan still keeps a clipping from the People’s Daily dated November 1, 1988, which featured the article titled \"A Major Breakthrough in Research on Alcohol-Based Alternative Fuel Technologies – A Key Project under the ‘Sixth Five-Year Plan’ in Yunnan.\" Dong Yin said that alcohol-hydrogen vehicles equipped with waste-heat hydrogen generation engines utilize the waste heat from vehicle exhaust to catalytically crack renewable energy sources (ethanol containing 65% water) through a hydrogen generator, thereby producing hydrogen on board. This hydrogen is then used as fuel in the engine. Not only is the fuel cost 2.1% to 30% lower than that of gasoline vehicles, but the power output is also 15% higher, while exhaust emissions are reduced by over 90% compared to gasoline vehicles. An expert once commented on this invention as follows: “...a hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engine with Chinese characteristics... The sophistication of this hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engine remains beyond the reach of foreign experts in this field to this day.” ” In 1990, Dong Yintan joined a delegation organized by the Yunnan Provincial Science and Technology Commission to the United States to study hydrogen production engines that utilize waste heat. At an energy exchange conference organized by the United Nations Development Programme, he delivered a speech titled \"Alcohol-based Alternatives as Fuel in China and Their Development Prospects,\" in which he described the technical features of these hydrogen production engines. At that time, 17 venture capital companies were willing to provide funding and asked him to stay in the United States to industrialize his invention. But Dong Yin said, “I am Chinese; my invention belongs to China, and it should first benefit my motherland.” Even if there is cooperation, it is cooperation **with** others; I personally cannot stay. ”After listening to his presentation, an American scientist raised his thumb and said, “Your invention is a highlight in the quest for alternatives to traditional energy sources.” The major invention related to alternative fuels for the new energy era in the 21st century did not emerge in the United States, but in China; your technology is at least 20 years ahead of ours. ” However, since its inception, this patented technology remained dormant for 21 years due to various reasons over the course of time. On March 6, 2007, when Huang Zhengxia, the 86-year-old former president of the Second Automobile Factory and chairman of the Second Automobile Group, arrived at Kunming Airport in a wheelchair, accompanied by Li Zhenhua, general manager of Dongfeng Industrial Co., Ltd., and Professor Deng Yadong, deputy dean of the School of Automotive Engineering at Wuhan University of Technology, Dong Yintan, who went there to welcome them, had tears in his eyes. After three days of evaluation, Dongfeng Industrial Co., Ltd., the School of Automotive Engineering at Wuhan University of Technology, and Kunming New Energy Development Co., Ltd. reached a consensus on the basis of the existing patent technologies for hydrogen production from waste heat: the patent technology related to hydrogen engines that utilize 65-degree ethanol containing water for hydrogen production (i.e., hydrogen-rich gas) as well as the technology for replacing 30% of the fuel with alcohol-based hydrogen is essentially mature. This technology offers clear advantages in terms of cost-effective hydrogen production, on-board hydrogen generation, and the use of EH30 as a blending component, giving it strong market competitiveness. At the same time, the three parties signed a cooperation intention letter. Fans on the path to new energy: The hydrogen production engine technology, which had remained dormant for over two decades, is now entering an era of industrialization. On May 17 this year, the **Ministry of Science and Technology organized a technical symposium on waste heat hydrogen production engines in Beijing. Experts from Tsinghua University, the Petroleum and Chemical Industry Planning Institute, the Society of Automotive Engineers of China, the Office for Energy-Saving and New Energy Vehicles, as well as Dong Yintan, the inventor of the waste heat hydrogen production engine technology, were invited to attend this symposium. Experts believe that, from a technical and engineering perspective, hydrogen production via the pyrolysis of aqueous ethanol is feasible ； The research work carried out by Dong Yin, the inventor of the waste heat hydrogen production engine technology, was completed primarily between 1997 and 1998 ； Taking the engine bench test report issued by Tianjin University as an example, the waste heat hydrogen production engine technology can improve the engine’s efficiency by 5.5% to 7.5%, and it reduces the emissions of CO and HC when the engine is running at idle. Experts recommend conducting a component analysis of the gases produced by the pyrolysis of aqueous alcohols using engine waste heat ； Further advance research on waste heat hydrogen production using electronically controlled engines ； Strengthen collaborative research with automobile companies. **A leader from the Energy and Transportation Division of the Ministry of Science and Technology said, “We will continue to monitor the further development of waste heat hydrogen production engine technology, and report any new progress promptly.” ” Dong Yin said, “The reason why hydrogen production engines using waste heat have not been able to be put into industrial use for so long is that we lack funding, and in the past we did not receive support from vehicle manufacturers or other relevant parties.” Fortunately, the Ministry of Science and Technology now attaches great importance to this innovative technology, and several well-known domestic vehicle manufacturers have approached us to discuss potential cooperation. Provided the necessary conditions are met to enable direct integration of the entire vehicle with waste heat hydrogen production engine technology, we are confident that we can develop the EH30 alcohol-hydrogen powered vehicle within half a year, and the EH100 hydrogen hybrid vehicle capable of fully replacing gasoline within a year; in this way, waste heat hydrogen production engines can be put into industrial use quite rapidly. As long as alcohol-hydrogen fuel is widely used in cars, greenhouse gas emissions of carbon dioxide that cause global warming can be reduced by over 60%. ” Dong Yin often says that although the overall scientific and technological level of China’s internal combustion engine vehicle industry lags behind that of foreign countries by about 20–30 years, in terms of alternative energy sources, thanks to our efforts in utilizing renewable biological resources – particularly hydrogen produced through the pyrolysis of ethanol – China has gained complete independent intellectual property rights over this advanced technology. While the international community is still using high-purity anhydrous ethanol mixed with gasoline as fuel for internal combustion engines at a low level, our country should take the lead, not only catching up but also advancing the development of alcohol (hydrogen) power technologies, in order to put an end to the long-term dependence of our automotive industry on others and break the Western monopoly on automotive development that has lasted for over a century. This is the shared aspiration of our country’s scientific, technological, and engineering experts; we fully possess the capability and confidence to undertake this glorious mission.