Hydrogen planes — can they become the new normal?
- 82newsbulletin
- Sep 29, 2020
- 1 min read
Written by Vienna Chan
Aerospace giant Airbus has set itself an ambitious deadline of 2035 to put a carbon-free commercial aircraft into service. Its 3 “ZEROe” initiatives include a turbofan jet engine able to carry 120-200 people over 2,000 nautical miles (3,700km) and a turboprop able to carry up to 100 people for 1,000 nautical miles. The third is an aircraft with a "blended-wing body" design. All three planes would be powered by gas-turbine engines that burn liquid hydrogen (extracted from water with electrolysis) to create electrical power, instead of fossil fuels.
Challenges include finding ways to safely store volatile liquid hydrogen during flight at very cold temperatures and most importantly, price. “The transition to hydrogen, as the primary power source for these concept planes, will require decisive action from the entire aviation ecosystem” in order to “scale-up the use of renewable energy and hydrogen in the aviation industry.”
In order to tackle these challenges, airports will require significant hydrogen transport and refueling infrastructure to meet the needs of day-to-day operations. Support from governments will be key to meet these ambitious objectives with increased funding for research & technology, digitalisation, and mechanisms that encourage the use of sustainable fuels and the renewal of aircraft fleets to allow airlines to discard the older, less environmentally friendly aircrafts earlier.
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