Aviation start-ups test potential of green hydrogen
On a bright morning in March this year, a small blue and white aircraft took off from an airfield at Moses Lake in central Washington. It flew for 15 minutes at an altitude of about 3,500 feet before safely returning to its base. The flight may have been brief but, according to the plane’s developer, Universal Hydrogen, it was nothing short of revolutionary. The aircraft, a De Havilland Dash 8-300 turboprop dubbed Lightning McClean, had one normal engine and one that was far more unusual: an electric motor fed by a hydrogen fuel cell. During the flight, the plane flew largely on the one hydrogen-powered engine — making it, according to Universal, by far the largest aircraft to cruise principally using hydrogen power. For the US company, founded in 2020, it was also another step on the journey to prove that hydrogen power is a viable way to decarbonise air travel. “Our first flight, [of] by far the largest hydrogen fuel cell airplane ever to take to the skies, is an important proof point for the industry, and especially for the next ‘clean-sheet’ airliner from both Airbus and Boeing,” says Universal CE, Paul Eremenko. It came just two months after Anglo-US start-up ZeroAvia had achieved a successful test flight of a smaller propeller aircraft partially powered by hydrogen fuel cells, in skies over Gloucestershire, south-west England. Now, these two companies are among a handful of disrupters trying to make their mark in an industry where Airbus and Boeing still dominate. Their hydrogen plans are ambitious: aviation is one of the most difficult industries to decarbonise. The sector is responsible for roughly 2.5% of global carbon dioxide emissions, excluding non-carbon effects such as nitrogen oxide and contrails — the vapour trails left in an aircraft’s wake. So far, manufacturers and airlines have committed to hitting net zero carbon emissions targets by 2050 through a mix of new fuel technologies, including the use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) and hydrogen, as well as more efficient aircraft, engines and air traffic management. But some argue that green hydrogen, produced by splitting water using electrolysers that run on renewable power, is the only technology capable of delivering true zero-emissions flight. Story has more. <br/>
https://portal.staralliance.com/cms/news/hot-topics/2023-06-16/general/aviation-start-ups-test-potential-of-green-hydrogen
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Aviation start-ups test potential of green hydrogen
On a bright morning in March this year, a small blue and white aircraft took off from an airfield at Moses Lake in central Washington. It flew for 15 minutes at an altitude of about 3,500 feet before safely returning to its base. The flight may have been brief but, according to the plane’s developer, Universal Hydrogen, it was nothing short of revolutionary. The aircraft, a De Havilland Dash 8-300 turboprop dubbed Lightning McClean, had one normal engine and one that was far more unusual: an electric motor fed by a hydrogen fuel cell. During the flight, the plane flew largely on the one hydrogen-powered engine — making it, according to Universal, by far the largest aircraft to cruise principally using hydrogen power. For the US company, founded in 2020, it was also another step on the journey to prove that hydrogen power is a viable way to decarbonise air travel. “Our first flight, [of] by far the largest hydrogen fuel cell airplane ever to take to the skies, is an important proof point for the industry, and especially for the next ‘clean-sheet’ airliner from both Airbus and Boeing,” says Universal CE, Paul Eremenko. It came just two months after Anglo-US start-up ZeroAvia had achieved a successful test flight of a smaller propeller aircraft partially powered by hydrogen fuel cells, in skies over Gloucestershire, south-west England. Now, these two companies are among a handful of disrupters trying to make their mark in an industry where Airbus and Boeing still dominate. Their hydrogen plans are ambitious: aviation is one of the most difficult industries to decarbonise. The sector is responsible for roughly 2.5% of global carbon dioxide emissions, excluding non-carbon effects such as nitrogen oxide and contrails — the vapour trails left in an aircraft’s wake. So far, manufacturers and airlines have committed to hitting net zero carbon emissions targets by 2050 through a mix of new fuel technologies, including the use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAFs) and hydrogen, as well as more efficient aircraft, engines and air traffic management. But some argue that green hydrogen, produced by splitting water using electrolysers that run on renewable power, is the only technology capable of delivering true zero-emissions flight. Story has more. <br/>
