Airbus recently announced that it is planning to design, build and demonstrate a “megawatt-level propulsion system” for large-scale passenger aircraft, featuring hydrogen fuel cell technology with hydrogen storage. frozen, in less than four years.
This doesn’t mean a giant plane powered by hydrogen fuel cells is being deployed within that timeframe or that the company sees fuel cell technology as a full replacement for jet engines. But it could replace some jet engines on a smaller scale before the internal combustion engine is banished from cars entirely.
The company says it “could be tested in flight by the middle of this decade—around 2026,” and it calls hydrogen “a very attractive option” in its quest to bring zero-emission aircraft to market. in the company’s 2035.
As the company outlined, it has three hydrogen-efficient options. It can ignite hydrogen in modified gas turbine engines; it can use hydrogen fuel cell to generate electric power; or it can use some combination of both.
For any of these, it could generate hydrogen from renewables like wind and solar, but going the fuel cell-EV route means such planes will really zero emissions.
If holding cars to a higher standard, why not airplanes?
That would help address an inconvenient truth—that cars, trucks, and buses aren’t the only transportation emissions problem. Commercial air travel accounts for about 2% of greenhouse gas emissions globally or in the US, more than 3% of GHG emissions, and about 10% of total transportation emissions. If automotive emissions can make dramatic progress with electrification, why can’t aircraft manufacturers step up their game?
That’s partly because of the other inconvenience: current automotive battery technology isn’t as energy-dense as it needs to be to fly long commercial routes or larger planes. Even storing hydrogen would require a new kind of solution to harness the energy density an aircraft needs.
Airbus, in recent announcements, says that the vessel will incorporate a cryogenic hydrogen storage tank, which operates at -253 degrees Celsius. It says that storing hydrogen at a very high pressure of 700 bar is not enough, but at heat the temperature at which cold hydrogen becomes a more energy dense liquid. Even then, four liters of liquid hydrogen is equivalent to just one liter of standard jet fuel, Airbus said. So don’t expect range to rival the Boeing 777 or the Airbus A350.
Airbus liquid H2 gas tank
Safety and durability requirements are stricter than those of space-launchers, Airbus says, as commercial aircraft not only need to endure 20,000 takeoffs and landings, but also need to hold hydrogen. liquid longer. For that solution, it is working on composites approach.
The fuel cell demonstration has many stages of development and testing. It will be built on Airbus’ A380 MSN001 “multimodal test platform” and will be modified externally to carry a fuel cell engine housing. Airbus is working with automotive supplier Elring Klinger and a joint venture with that company called Aerostack for fuel cell stacks, which generate electricity (plus some water and heat) from hydrogen through an electrochemical reaction. strictly managed.
Airbus ZeroE Platform
Likely, like in fuel cell cars like Toyota Miraithat the lithium-ion battery pack will serve as a buffer for energy—or in this case, provide emergency descent if the stack turns off.
The role of fuel cells in ground transportation is not over yet
Such solutions could be well-suited to a future in which broad-spectrum research shows that fuel cells could have a big future in aviation, shipping and heavy industry—while the window of opportunity for fuel cells may be rapidly fading for many truck and bus formats.
In the meantime, both Airbus and Boeing are said to be continuing to work on next-generation hybrid engines that can electrify propellers. And the smaller companies are done short flight of electric commercial aircraft.
In the US the plane has not suffered any greenhouse gas standards until 2020, when the US EPA adds them to new commercial and large passenger jets after years of industry objections. The moment when regulatory frameworks will open up to more stringent targets is visible, so until things like teleportation or high-speed tunneling become a reality, jet innovation large size could be the way to save its existence.
