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As the climate crisis worsens, the pressure on the aviation industry to reduce emissions is increasing. And now the industry has taken a step forward with a successful test flight of a hydrogen-electric engine that produces zero CO2 emissions.
ZeroAvia’s 19-seat, twin-engine Dornier 228 aircraft completed a roughly 10-minute test flight in the UK on Thursday. While 19 seats is of course tiny compared to normal passenger planes, it is the largest aircraft to have made a successful hydrogen-electric powered flight.
By using liquid hydrogen to power fuel cells, the technology eliminates CO2 emissions during flight.
This is part of a race to decarbonize the aviation industry, which is currently responsible for about 2.5% of global carbon emissions, although its overall contribution to climate is estimated to be greater due to the other gases it emits, water vapor and contrails.
Hydrogen has been identified as a promising fuel solution for aircraft because it produces no greenhouse gases when burned. However, unless the hydrogen is produced using renewable energy, the process of producing it relies on fossil fuels.
The Dornier 228 was retrofitted on the aircraft’s left wing with a full-size prototype hydrogen-electric powertrain containing two fuel cell stacks. Lithium-ion battery packs increased assist during takeoff, while hydrogen tanks and fuel cell power generation systems were placed in the cabin with the seats removed.
Half of the power came from the fuel cells and the other half from the battery packs, a company official confirmed in a press conference after the flight.
The right wing carried a normal engine for safety reasons – although it was not used during flight.
From Cotswold Airport, the aircraft completed taxi, takeoff, a full circuit and landing, all using the hydrogen-electric engine. It reached a speed of 120 knots or 139 miles per hour. “All systems have performed as expected,” the company said in a press release.
Of course, on a commercial flight, the hydrogen tanks and fuel cell power generation systems would be located outside the aircraft. The company is now aiming to complete the configuration and submit for certification by the end of the year.
In a news conference, a company representative said there were no plans “at the moment” to install the hydrogen-electric powertrains (the mechanism that powers the aircraft, including the fuel tanks and engine) on either wing, but added: “Anything is possible, and we’re learning.” The company has yet to confirm its launch aircraft.
ZeroAvia’s flight is part of the UK Government-backed HyFlyer II project, which aims to develop a 600kW powertrain to enable zero-emissions flight for 9-19 seat aircraft and a range of 300 nautical miles strives for The flight was operated under a full UK Civil Aviation Authority Part 21 permit to fly.
The company has come a long way since September 2020 when it completed a hydrogen-electric powered flight of a six-seat Piper Malibu with a 250 kW hydrogen-electric powertrain. Since then it has completed over 30 flights with the smaller engine.
The company, which already has partnerships with seven aircraft manufacturers, has 1,500 pre-orders for various engine variants, according to founder and CEO Val Miftakhov at the press conference. Up to 700 of them are for the engine size tested in the UK on Thursday. “We know the market is for that, now it’s just a matter of getting that into the final design,” he added.
The company aims to serve commercial flights with the technology by 2025. It also aims to expand the technology to larger 90-seat aircraft, with “further expansion” into narrow-body aircraft over the next decade, they said in a statement. By 2027, they want to be able to fly a 700-mile flight in a 40- to 80-seat airplane.
The latter is not an easy task.
While hydrogen-powered aircraft have been under development since the mid-20th century, they have encountered significant obstacles, principally hydrogen’s low energy density compared to kerosene – meaning it would take up about four times the space of kerosene – and the latter Availability and historically low price.
The infrastructure required for the production and distribution of hydrogen is also an issue. Speaking at this year’s Airbus Summit, an industry event for the aircraft manufacturer, Airbus CEO Guillaume Faury warned it was “a major problem” and could derail the company’s plans to introduce a hydrogen-powered aircraft by 2035.
Airbus announced plans in December to test a hydrogen-powered fuel cell engine on an A380 in 2026.
Days before Airbus announced, Rolls-Royce and low-cost airline EasyJet announced they had successfully converted a regular aircraft engine to run on liquid hydrogen – a world first, they claimed.
Meanwhile, other companies are developing technology aimed at delivering electric aircraft. Miftakhov told CNN in 2020 that compared to the “wildest predictions for battery technology,” hydrogen has greater potential for zero-emissions flight than all-electric competitors.
In the meantime, ZeroAvia’s Dornier 228 will conduct a series of test flights from Kemble in the UK’s Lake District before moving on to demonstration flights from other airports.
Miftakhov said in a statement: “This is an important moment, not just for ZeroAvia but for the aviation industry as a whole, as it shows that true zero-emission commercial flight is just a few years away.
“The maiden flight of our 19-seater aircraft shows how scalable our technology is and underscores the rapid progress of zero-emission propulsion. This is just the beginning – we are building the future of sustainable, climate-neutral aviation.”
In a press conference, he called it “an outstanding day, not just for ZeroAvia or aviation, but for the world,” adding, “Aviation [contribution] Climate change is getting bigger and we really need solutions.”
The fast-growing industry is responsible for 2.1% of global human-caused CO2 emissions and 3.5% of global warming emissions, according to the Air Transport Action Group.
“Today we saw a big step towards achieving this goal [of decarbonization]’ he said at the press conference.
“There’s still a long way to go, but let’s celebrate the success.”