Rolls-Royce has identified three technology challenges to enable hydrogen for use in aviation: fuel combustion, fuel delivery and fuel systems integration with an engine. All elements must be confirmed to operate safely.
Rolls-Royce’s facility at Solihull, UK is started tests to prove aerospace cryogenic liquid hydrogen pump systems. These will address a key engineering challenge of taking low-pressure liquid hydrogen, chilled below -250°C, and pressurising it so that it can then be pumped into an engine to be combusted.
In September, Rolls-Royce set a world first when tests on a full annular combustor of a Pearl 700 engine at DLR in Cologne running on 100% hydrogen proved the fuel can be combusted at conditions that represent maximum take-off thrust.
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A company called Plasma Kinetics can capture and store non-flammable solid-state hydrogen at ambient pressure and temperature with a storage capacity of 8.6kWh/kg. Basically it’s a thin film roll in a canister that releases the hydrogen on demand via light. The material absorbs metric tons of hydrogen in minutes. Has missile and rocket applications so was initially declared a state secret. Sounds promising but roll out may take awhile.
Sounds like LK99 and cold fusion.
Congrats “expert”, that’s the dumbest comment I’ve read all day.
The tape drive hydrogen cartridge idea is novel
Once you’ve solve the technical problems, you’re still faced with the problem that it’s a stupid thing to do.
The density of LH is so low most of the plane would have to be fuel tank. That increases air resistance per unit payload.
Large amounts of energy would be wasted in the process of splitting water to make H2, and then liquifying it.
No sensible person would think, “Hey, let’s use an ultra-cryogenic, ultra-low density fuel we have to synthesize from scratch! It will be fun!” Hydrogen energy is a technological cult fueled by subsidies.
That is all true, but why should reality be a consideration for those lining their pockets at the government pig trough? Also, great way for politicians to get re-election money from the special interest groups slurping up the swill.
There is zero chance that common sense will prevail until the government runs out of other peoples money.
The US consumes 3 quadrillion btu of jet fuel. https://www.eia.gov/state/seds/data.php?incfile=/state/seds/sep_fuel/html/fuel_jf.html
Producing hydrogen and liquefying it will take about 2-3x that much energy. Add in future growth in travel, call it 10 quadrillion btu if the hydrogen is produced from water.
That’s 2,930 TWh.
The US consumes about 4,000 TWh of electricity per year.
We can cut the energy cost of hydrogen by about 80% by pyrolyzing methane instead. Monolith Materials seems to have the only functioning system. The process also produces carbon black, which is valuable is small quantities, and can be used as a lower value soil additive at unlimited quantities.
Or make hydrogen from water using thermal hydrogen production from nuclear energy. Good luck getting any new reactors built under the ALARA nonsense promoted by a pathological NRC and EPA.
I’m surprised the watermelons can accommodate air travel in their dystopian future. Perhaps they instinctively realize our society isn’t going to give up flight… that austerity for the sake of some moral high ground is not fun… that even the most vegan don’t want to live like the Amish. It’s funny though, because jet aviation is the most energetically wasteful mode of travel other than spaceflight. Back in recent, modern times, my great aunts (spinsters) used to travel between USA and Italy on ocean liners like the Andrea Doria, no doubt having a martini along the way. I guess they weren’t constrained with 152 hours of paid time off like their nephew is today.
Oh, and I also share the sentiment that hydrogen energy is a theological cult, like so many other righteous austerity movements.
It always sounds like scratching a chalk board when people that know nothing about running powerplants call the NRC and ALARA ‘pathological’. It isn’t like the government is pushing you to do something, like take a shot. On the contrary, the government has set limits on what dose a worker may get without suing the employer. That dose is about 12.5% of what will make you sick in a day, taken over a year. Sounds reasonable to me. The fact that the employers voluntarily reduce that to about 5% of what will make you sick in a day, taken over a year is ALARA, and if your concept plant would challenge such dose thresholds, the takeaway is that your plant design sucks, not that the regulator is ‘pathalogical’.
a complete waste of time and money. carbon based fuels are safer and cheaper and the infrastructure exists. just offset the emissions and decarbonize in other areas such as buildings and land transport. i have no interest in ever riding in a hydrogen filled plane.