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Airbus plans hydrogen aircraft

2020-09-21T12:29:22.905Z


Technology against “flight shame”: Airbus is working on concepts to at least partially solve the CO2 problem in aviation. A lot of money is needed for this - probably also from tax revenues.


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Concept of a hydrogen-powered Airbus jet that could, for example, serve routes within Europe

Photo: IIVS / Airbus

The corona pandemic briefly plunged aviation into an existential crisis.

But the industry is also facing major challenges in the long term.

It is about the question of how much climate-damaging air traffic mankind can and will still afford in the coming decades.

The share of aviation in man-made emissions of carbon dioxide is currently around 2.5 percent.

In addition, there is water vapor and the resulting ice clouds.

There are a number of ideas for solving the problems: climate-neutral fuels are one of them, battery-powered aircraft - or models with hydrogen propulsion.

The European aircraft manufacturer Airbus presented three new ideas on Monday.

These are concepts for, as the company calls it, “the first climate-neutral and emission-free airliner”.

The designs are all code-named "ZEROe".

They include:

  • A

    propeller

    plane with which up to 100 passengers can travel over short distances of more than 1,850 kilometers.

    The turboprop engines are to be supplied with energy by burning hydrogen in modified gas turbine engines.

  • A

    jet-powered machine

    that could carry 120 to 200 passengers over 3,700 kilometers.

    Such a model would be sufficient for trips within Europe, for example.

    Here, too, the engines would be powered by the combustion of hydrogen.

    This would be carried in tanks in the rear third of the hull of the machine.

    Such a machine would be a kind of successor to the successful A320, which, however, has so far achieved a range of more than 5000 kilometers.

  • A

    "blended wing body" aircraft

    , so to speak a flying wing, in which a wide fuselage and the wings merge into one another.

    Here, it is said, the range is comparable to that of the nozzle model.

    Long-haul aircraft are unlikely to run on hydrogen in the medium term either.

    This is because the tanks in the machines would be too big.

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Concept of a "blended wing body" aircraft powered by hydrogen

Photo: IIVS / Airbus

"This is a historic moment for all of commercial aviation," said Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury.

The concepts would give the world "a first impression" of his company's "ambitious goals and bold visions" for the future of zero-emission flying.

"I am firmly convinced that the use of hydrogen - as a component of synthetic fuels as well as the main energy source for commercial aircraft - has the potential to significantly reduce the climate impact of aviation."

Airbus has set out to have at least one of the three models ready for use by 2035.

That sounds like a long period of time, but it would be quite ambitious for the development cycles of aircraft manufacturers.

Faury told the "Süddeutsche Zeitung" that it would take another five years to develop the technology further.

Then you will choose a concept and look for partners for it.

The official program start could then take place in 2027 or 2028.

Soviet aircraft flew on hydrogen as early as 1988

To operate aircraft with hydrogen, this idea was tested in practice at the end of the eighties.

In the Soviet Union, on April 15, 1988, one of the three engines on board was operated with hydrogen for the first time in the experimental model Tupolev Tu-155.

Later the machine also flew on natural gas as a test.

Technically, the test flights went off without any major problems, but the project was discontinued with the end of the Soviet Union.

The machine is stored at Moscow Zhukovsky Airport.

Since then, hydrogen propulsion has been tried out on a rather smaller scale, including in the project of the four-seat hydrogen fuel cell aircraft HY4 from the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

The lack of infrastructure on the ground poses a challenge for a large-scale deployment. Airports must be equipped with systems for transport and refueling.

Above all, however, large quantities of carbon-neutral hydrogen must first be available.

The energy carrier can be produced, for example, by electrolysis of water with the help of wind energy.

However, the process is rather inefficient.

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And this is what a hydrogen-powered Airbus regional plane could look like

Photo: IIVS / Airbus

In the corona crisis, and thus the circle has come full, states such as Germany and France have announced billions in funding for hydrogen research.

So the pandemic is not only a challenge for aviation today, it may also lay the foundation for the survival of the industry in the future.

The EU Commission has also worked out a hydrogen strategy.

The aim is to advance the technology and make it more efficient.

In the announcement by Airbus for the new concepts, the company also calls for further public support for hydrogen development: The aircraft manufacturer says that "support from the state" is crucial for achieving the ambitious goals.

That in turn will be read with great interest from competitor Boeing.

After years of dispute, the World Trade Organization (WTO) decided this year that the European subsidies for Airbus contradicted the rules for free trade and that the US could defend itself with punitive tariffs on European goods.

It is quite possible that the proposed funding for hydrogen in Europe will result in a new round of discussion.

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Source: spiegel

All tech articles on 2020-09-21

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