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Could airports make hydrogen work as a fuel?
By Ben Morris
Technology of Business editor
24 November 2023
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-67371275.amp

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One start-up, Universal Hydrogen, says it has a solution. It involves doing all the tricky parts of handling hydrogen away from the airport, probably at the facility where the gas is actually made.

The company has developed special tanks to hold liquid hydrogen (UH calls them modules), which can then be trucked to the airport. The modules are designed to slot straight into the aircraft, where they can be plugged into the propulsion system.

No need for pipes, hoses and pumps.

The modules are extremely well insulated and can keep the hydrogen in its liquid form for four days. Two modules would hold 360kg of hydrogen and would be able to fly an aircraft 500 miles, plus an extra 45 minutes of flight time in reserve.

Universal Hydrogen is modifying a regional airliner, putting in a fuel cell that can convert liquid hydrogen to electricity and connecting that up to electric motors that will drive the propellers.

Larger doors are being fitted so the modules can be loaded into the plane. If all goes to plan, test flights will start next year.

Mark Cousin, chief technology officer, at Universal Hydrogen, says hydrogen is most likely to be used for regional flights, but regular jet fuel will still be needed for long-haul operations.

"Handling the fuel in a different way - like we're proposing - makes sense because you're not trying to convert the existing fuelling infrastructure, which the airlines need to keep anyway for other parts of their fleet," he says.

It's not clear yet whether hydrogen will become a mainstream fuel for aviation. Aircraft powered by hydrogen are still in the early stages of development.

Unlike current planes, which can store fuel in the their wings, hydrogen planes will have to store their fuel in the fuselage, cutting space for passengers.

In addition, there is also the question of whether there will be enough environmentally-friendly, green hydrogen to meet demand.

Hydrogen might not be suitable for long-haul routes

Prakash Dikshit, who works on the planning and development of airports for the consultancy Landrum and Brown, says it's not clear what path the aviation industry will take.

"I think everyone in the aviation industry realises that net zero is something that they need to aspire to. The how we get there, and the economics of getting there are less clear at this point.

"Hydrogen fuelled aircraft - while there might be some demo flights in the next decade, large scale implementation of hydrogen definitely seems farther away. And maybe not even certain."