Project Number: 052
Category: Aircraft Technology Innovation, Combustion Products, Alternative Fuels
All-electric battery-powered aircraft offer the potential to eliminate the direct combustion products associated with aviation. Development efforts for such aircraft are under way especially for regional and short-haul missions. For long-haul flights with large energy requirements, the specific energy and power capabilities of available battery technologies currently limit the feasibility of all-electric aircraft at airliner-scale. An alternative means of using electricity to power aviation are fuels produced from electricity. For example, electricity can be used to convert carbon (e.g., atmospheric CO2 or carbon from biomass) and hydrogen (from electrolysis) into liquid drop-in electrofuels. In addition, cryogenic non-drop-in fuels (e.g. hydrogen) can be produced from renewable sources.
The goal of this project is to quantify the costs, combustion products and resulting impacts of different electrification approaches for commercial aviation. The electrification pathways considered range from all-electric aircraft on the one hand to hybrid aircraft, turbo-electric aircraft or conventional aircraft powered by fuels produced from electricity on the other. This project will provide a suite of roadmaps for aircraft electrification, including electrofuels, and analyze different electrification approaches.
Annual Reports
Participants
Lead Investigators
Program Managers
Publications
- Hydrogen Aircraft Design With Heat-Exchanger-Enhanced Turbofan Engines
- Influence of Fuel Tank Design on the Energy Demand of Hydrogen Aircraft
- Near-zero Environmental Impact Aircraft
- Estimating the Energy Demand of a Hydrogen-Based Long-Haul Air Transportation Network
- Global Costs and Infrastructure Requirements for LH2 Airport Refueling
- Comparative Assessment of the Societal Cost of PtL and LH₂ as Aviation Fuels
- Cost and Emissions Pathways Towards Net-zero Climate Impacts in Aviation