rolls royce and the airline easyJet They became allies to show the operation of an airplane engine using green hydrogen. It is the first time that an achievement of this type has been obtained, and the companies involved consider that it is the initial kick to test a type of fuel without carbon emissions.
The test was conducted in the United Kingdom, taking advantage of a Rolls-Royce AE 2100-A modified. It is a turboprop engine that is used mostly in the Saab 2000, a passenger plane for regional flights. As for the fuel itself, it was provided by the European Marine Energy Center (EMEC).
In this initial demonstration it was possible to prove that hydrogen can power an aircraft engine and keep it running at low speed. Undoubtedly, the first step on a long road. Grazia Vittadini, Rolls-Royce’s chief technology officer, said: “The success of this hydrogen test is an exciting milestone. We are pushing the boundaries to discover the carbon-zero possibilities of hydrogen, which could help change the future of aviation”.
While easyJet was also hopeful for the alliance. The airline believes that the possibility of using hydrogen as aviation fuel for meet its goal of net zero emissions by 2050.
Rolls-Royce will continue to work on its test bed, exploring the possibilities of green hydrogen. However, the company’s intention is to go further and carry out a full-scale test using its jet engine. Pearl 15the same as Bombardier’s Global 5500 and 6500 private jets.
Although it is undeniable that Rolls-Royce and the airline easyJet have taken a very interesting first step to test the use of hydrogen, it is also a reality that its practical implementation It will not happen in the short or medium term. It is that not only will it require the development of engines dedicated exclusively to this fuel, but it will also require aircraft specially prepared to transport it.
Rolls-Royce wants to use hydrogen as aviation fuel, but it’s not that simple
BBC mentions that liquid hydrogen takes up four times more space than conventional fuel needed to cover the same distance. But the necessary and available space is not the only engineering problem that Rolls-Royce must solve before its practical implementation. is that nitrogen must be cooled to -253 degrees Celsius for it to take a liquid state, and it must be turned into a gas before being burned.
To this must be added the debate that exists about the true environmental impact of obtaining green hydrogen, in the first place. The main criticisms point to the fact that the process to generate it – which involves the use of electricity to separate oxygen and hydrogen from water – causes a large amount of carbon emissions.
Although its defenders argue the use of electricity from renewable energymost of the hydrogen for industrial use is obtained with the use of natural gas, in a process known as “steam reforming”.
Of course, Rolls-Royce is not the first company to bet on hydrogen as the future of the aeronautical market. In fact, in 2020 there was the first flight of a small commercial airplane that used it as fuel. However, it was on a minuscule scale, and with hydrogen powering an electric motor. Airbus, meanwhile, has unveiled its zero-emission aircraft concepts, but they would not be seen in action until at least 2035.
It is clear that large-scale commercial aviation you will not be able to abandon the use of fossil fuels anytime soon. And the problem is not only that Rolls-Royce – or any manufacturer – is able to run its engines with green hydrogen, but also that there is a lack of infrastructure on the ground to support its operations.