hydrogen fuel

Some First Passengers on Zero-Emission Hydrogen-Powered Flights In The World Could Be Flying From Rotterdam

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The future of flight is renewable hydrogen.

@ZeroAvia

A new aviation partnership moves the ball a significant distance down the field towards zero-emission goal line of commercial hydrogen operations.

ZeroAvia, the leader in developing zero-emission solutions for commercial aviation, announced the signing of a collaboration agreement with Shell, Rotterdam The Hague Airport and Rotterdam the Hague Innovation Airport. The parties will develop a concept of operations for hydrogen in airports and demonstration flights to European destinations by the end of 2024, gearing up for commercial passenger flights by 2025.

Following up on the cooperation commitment announced last year to launch the first hydrogen-electric commercial flight, this specific collaboration will focus on serving the first hydrogen flight from Rotterdam, including operation at the airport, developing on-the-ground infrastructure and operations to satisfactorily pilot distribution, storage, and dispensing of hydrogen for aviation, leading towards decarbonizing the whole airport ecosystem.

Ultimately, the project targets supporting aircraft operations using gaseous hydrogen to fuel ZeroAvia’s hydrogen-electric, zero-emission ZA600 engines. For these specific demonstration flights the parties aim to establish routes to airports in Europe within 250 nautical mile radius of Rotterdam. Last month, ZeroAvia demonstrated a first flight of a 19-seat aircraft powered by its prototype ZA600 engine.

This project will also target the development of aviation specific standards and protocols around safety, refueling and hydrogen management, enabling rollout of the promising fuel seamlessly. The parties will work together in discussions with potential airline operators for the initial demonstration and subsequent commercial flights.

@ZeroAvia and @Shell to develop a concept of operations for hydrogen in @Rotterdam airport, with demonstration flights to European destinations by the end of 2024.

Shell brings critical experiences and technical capabilities to the project. This is expertise related to hydrogen end-to-end supply chains and global experiences in design and operation of refueling equipment, including hydrogen. Shell invests in hydrogen production projects with the aim to develop regional and international hydrogen economies. In its decarbonization efforts Shell collaborates with airports to develop fit-for-future infrastructure that will allow it to supply customers with sustainable aviation fuel, hydrogen and electric planes charging, so called “multi-modular” infrastructure.

“There is still a lot of work to do, but with clear milestones and targets identified, the hard work really starts now towards delivering the infrastructure and exploring the protocols and standards required.” – Arnab Chatterjee, VP, Infrastructure, ZeroAvia.

 “This project and collaboration is a milestone as it enables a rapid decarbonization of a hard-to-electrify sector such as aviation. It also offers the chance to support one of the first international zero-emission passenger routes. On top of that, it allows the opportunity to road test multi-fuel and multimodal fueling operations in a live airport environment. This is a big step forward for hydrogen aviation and for Shell’s plans in this space,” – Oliver Bishop, General Manager Hydrogen at Shell.

@ZeroAvia

” Hydrogen is key to decarbonize aviation. This collaboration helps us demonstrate and validate new airport infrastructure requirements as well as concepts of operation. And hence accelerate and stimulate airport transformation towards Zero-Emission,” – Wilma Van Dijk, CEO, Rotterdam The Hague Airport of Royal Schiphol Group.

ZeroAvia has previously partnered with Shell for the provision of low carbon-intensity hydrogen to power some of its testing and early commercial operations in California. The multinational energy company also invested in ZeroAvia last year.

Miranda Janse, CEO Rotterdam the Hague Innovation Airport, said: “As a foundation supported by Rotterdam The Hague airport and Municipality of Rotterdam, RHIA is always keen to drive innovation and sustainable aviation developments at RTHA together with and for a network of partners. RHIA is actively working with partners within its DutcH2 Aviation Hub program to develop hydrogen-driven flights from RTHA. This collaboration is one of the projects within the program that helps us create the open-access infrastructure required for the sector. RHIA is happy to help facilitate this specific partnership and bring the project to life as well as creating the foundation for the partners within the community.”

ZeroAvia’s testing of the ZA600 powertrain in flight is part of HyFlyer II, an R&D project supported in part by the UK Government’s ATI programme. The project has also seen the further development of ZeroAvia’s Hydrogen Airport Refuelling Ecosystem (HARE) demonstrator alongside project partner EMEC, and separately ZeroAvia has developed a hydrogen refuelling pipeline at Cotswold Airport.

@ZeroAvia

Universal hydrogen is coming to an aircraft and airport near you

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A first look at latest Universal Hydrogen progress towards zero-carbon aviation solutions.  Universal Hydrogen Inaugurates Engineering Design Center and European Headquarters in Toulouse, France. Attendees, including top aerospace industry leaders and dignitaries from the Occitanie Region, received a first look at latest Universal Hydrogen progress towards zero-carbon aviation solutions. An end-to-end solution for hydrogen-powered flight. … Read more

The hybrid approach combines hydrogen power with the benefits of electric power

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LiquidPiston replaced a traditional go-kart engine with its hybrid-electric X-Engine powered by hydrogen.

@LiquidPiston

Zero Emission Engine Technology Is a Reality.

According to Alec Shkolnik, CEO and co-founder of LiquidPiston, in the not so distant future, we could see an X-Engine taking hydrogen gas created using energy from solar panels and wind turbines to power electrified vehicles. LiquidPiston,Inc., developer of advanced rotary diesel and multi-fuel internal combustion engines, is creating a truly zero emissions vehicle while minimizing battery size, weight and cost. The company replaced a traditional go-kart engine with its hybrid- electric X-Engine powered by hydrogen.

LiquidPiston Successfully Runs Hybrid-Electric X-Engine on Hydrogen, Proves Zero Emission Engine Technology Is a Reality.

This week, LiquidPiston released a video with Warped Perception announcing its innovative X-Engine’s ability to run on hydrogen gas. The successful use of hydrogen gas to power the X-Engine, a next-generation rotary engine, demonstrates that fuels created using renewable energy are a possible pathway forward to enable engines to become zero emission power generation technologies. This is the sixth fuel variation that has been shown to power the X-Engine along with gasoline, propane, kerosene, diesel, and jet A fuel.

To demonstrate the viability of hydrogen fuel powering the X-Engine, the LiquidPiston team modified its 4.5 lb X-Engine (core) to run on hydrogen. The engine was then installed in a hybrid-electric configuration on a go-kart, which was originally powered by a 39-pound gasoline engine. The hybrid approach combines the benefits of hydrogen power with the benefits of electric power, and can enable regenerative braking, where the simple act of braking works to recharge the go-kart’s battery, allowing for longer travel times between refueling stops.

@LiquidPiston

The developmental X-Engine was initially tested at the company’s on-site dyno testing facility. In the video from Warped Perception, you can see how the architecture of the X-Engine enables LiquidPiston to overcome the inefficiencies of a traditional rotary engine and run on fuel like hydrogen. The video provides insight into the X-Engine operation through high-speed footage of hydrogen combustion within the engine’s chambers and also shows how the hybrid electric system is set up on the go-kart, including an initial debugging run followed by a successful system test.

Hydrogen can be generated without CO2 emissions, and when the burning hydrogen is recombined with air inside the engine, the primary output is water. Such an approach has proved difficult with piston engines, because the ignition energy of hydrogen is extremely low, and any hot spots cause premature ignition of the fuel. The hydrogen combustion process is also significantly faster than that of traditional fuels. The X-Engine offers a pathway to address these challenges in a package that is more powerful and lower cost than fuel cells.

“An X-Engine running on hydrogen gas could be a viable solution to a number of sustainable transportation challenges – from aviation to automotive,” said Alec Shkolnik, CEO and co-founder of LiquidPiston.

Today’s solutions for power and energy are held back by a lack of technological innovation. Gasoline engines are
inefficient, diesel engines are big and heavy, and electric power/batteries weigh a lot compared to what they produce.
LiquidPiston’s engines are up to 10x smaller and lighter than traditional diesel engines and increase efficiency by up to 30 percent thanks to the company’s patented thermodynamic cycle.

@LiquidPiston