Thursday, February 23, 2017

Liquid Hydrogen May Be Way Forward for Sustainable Air Travel

EasyJet is working on the world’s first hybrid hydrogen plane – and it could save 50,000 tons of fuel each year. The aircraft will use a hydrogen fuel cell to capture energy as it brakes on landing. The energy can then be used by the aircraft to for taxiing without jet engines. Up to 4 percent of EasyJet’s total fuel consumed annually is used for taxiing around four million miles around airports each year. (Credit: EasyJet) Click to Enlarge.
Transport makes up around 20 percent of our energy use around the world--and that figure is set to grow, according to the International Energy Agency.  With sustainable solutions in mind, a new study published by eminent physicist Jo Hermans in MRS Energy and Sustainability--A Review Journal (MRS E&S) looks at the energy efficiency of current modes of transport--from bicycles to buses, from air transport to cruise ships-- and concludes that liquid hydrogen seems to be a realistic option for what is probably the most problematic of transportation modes in terms of sustainability, future air travel.

Professor Hermans from Leiden University's famous Huygen's Laboratory acknowledges that oil-based liquid fuels such as gasoline, diesel and kerosene will be hard to beat when it comes to how much energy they pack in relation to their volume and weight--not to mention the sheer convenience of using them to get from A to B.

The author of popular books such as Physics is Fun (2012) and Energy Survival Guide (2011) acknowledges that achieving sustainable transport in the post-fossil fuel era will be a huge challenge--but finds that liquid hydrogen could offer a potential solution for future air travel.

"Given the severe weight limitations for fuel in aircraft, liquid hydrogen may be a viable alternative in the long run," he argues:
  • First, handling of liquid hydrogen would be carried out by professionals, which reduces the safety issues involved with liquid hydrogen to the same level of risk involved in handling kerosene.
  • Second, liquid hydrogen itself is very light (in fact, it is in a gaseous state at ordinary temperatures), which is an important advantage for air travel.
  • Third, the disadvantages of "boil off" (created by the low boiling point of liquid hydrogen) would be reduced in air travel because of the low outside temperature at cruising altitudes.
Read more at Liquid Hydrogen May Be Way Forward for Sustainable Air Travel

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