Company Works on Creating Hydrogen-Powered Planes

Aviation company Universal Hydrogen is making zero-emission jet engines powered by hydrogen instead of jet fuel.

Universal Hydrogen is an aviation company that wants to speed up the introduction of hydrogen-powered planes. The company makes conversion kits that can be retrofitted to fuel-powered planes, replacing the existing jet fuel burning system with a hydrogen fuel cell so there is no need to build a new aircraft from scratch.

#Aviation #RenewableEnergy #Hydrogen #Earth #Environment #Science #NowThis

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[priscillajimenez]

This is very interesting. This can probably be used in many forms of mass transportation.

[nicolasschoovaerts]

I am no expert, but aren’t the engines (at least those shown being tested, not the planes stock images) propeller based, and not jet?

[ardaozcan]

The problem for large commercial planes is that operating costs play a big role. Hydrogen needs to be stored pressurized and even then energy to volume ratio of hydrogen is worse than current jet fuels. Pressurization of fuel is an additional hazard factor as well. Failure of hydrogen tanks can easily be catastrophic. Therefore, development needs to happen far more meticulously then current fuel systems. For smaller, private airplanes, operating costs are less important and regulations are not as strict. So, it may find itself a niche in small propeller airplanes and private jets maybe but I don't think it will be scalable for usage in commercial airliners.

[muskreality]

This can be applied to some niche industries such a crop spraying

[islandsedition]

Does this mean they retrofit the fuel tanks too? My understanding is that the fuel tanks of commercial planes are largely in the wings which I would have thought would be quite a challenge.

[NotAyFox]

I'm not a rocket scientist, but wouldn't it be simpler to retrofit the planes with rocket engines of similar thrust that are powered with liquid hydrogen directly? I know that these engines usually use compressed oxygen as well, but an "air-breathing" alternative might be possible. Also, turbojet engines might be able to use hydrogen directly, with some modifications. I'm just struggling to understand why fuel cells and electric motors are involved since that adds a lot of complexity and weight.

[briannugent]

For this to be green the hydrogen must be presently produced either by renewable energy using electrolysis and not by steam reforming of methane which is referred to as brown hydrogen. Alas green hydrogen is about 3x the cost of brown hydrogen.
If the world replaces its aging pressurized water reactors with mass produced modular molten salt reactors MSR (no need for dangerous extreme pressured water) then the much higher operating temperature can thermo-chemically split water to hydrogen & oxygen using a sulfur iodine catalyst. This is most efficient because the reactor heat doesn't need to convert to electricity at say 40% efficiency.

[charliedevine]

If the hydrogen goes through a fuel cell and the electricity powers an electric motor then it is not a jet engine.

[bigbigblast]

Wow! This is really something. I hope that this gets adopted asap cuz this is the only planet we got and we're all screwed if we don't reverse the damage we've done.

[claudettefolsom]

Gotta feel the floodings killing weather going on

[robert]

Of course, Hydrogen based power has been in the pipe -line for transportation & prevalence of use in the near to medium future. Until, then we will continue to use economical fuel sources for the well being of humans & cost effectiveness to businesses. Thank you and peace be with all of mankind. ❤️😃👏

[carnaud]

Never mind the fact that the energy density of hydrogen versus gasoline is 1/15th of gasoline by volume.

[stickynorth]

Not only is this viable but it's the true eco-option for cleaning up this industry. Yes there are challenges including cost and space consideration but considering what will happen if we do nothing? Forgetaboutit...

[frankmurphy]

Research by all means but storing the stuff is a nightmare and it will leak out of anything but very hi tech or metal pipes

[noahpartic]

Not bad.
How about powering cars in a similar manner?

[daniels-mool]

Hydrogen is the future, I've always known. True even for cars, BEV simply isn't viable with hours of charging time, FCEV is better.

[stevelk]

So does the fuel-cell make explosive power or Electric Power?

[shiekhwaleedmiral-protein]

That's not a jet engine that's Just a turboprop 😂😂😂😂

[TempestBear]

I just saw that the process of making the hydrogen fuel creates more greenhouse gases than just using conventional fuel. Is this true???

[robthejones]

Nothing in this piece explained where they’re sourcing the hydrogen from. It takes a lot of energy to produce it.