Universal Hydrogen's hydrogen fuel cell demonstrator made its maiden flight to Moss Lake, Washington, last week. The test flight lasted 15 minutes and reached an altitude of 3,500 feet. The test platform is based on the Dash8-300, the world's largest hydrogen fuel cell aircraft.
The plane, nicknamed Lightning McClean, took off from Grant County International Airport (KMWH) at 8:45 a.m. on March 2 and reached a cruising altitude of 3,500 feet 15 minutes later. The flight, based on an FAA Special Airworthiness certificate, is the first of a two-year test flight that is expected to culminate in 2025. The plane, which was converted from an ATR 72 regional jet, retains only one original fossil fuel turbine engine for safety, while the rest are powered by pure hydrogen.
Universal Hydrogen aims to have regional flight operations powered entirely by hydrogen fuel cells by 2025. In this test, an engine powered by a clean hydrogen fuel cell emits only water and does not pollute the atmosphere. Because it's preliminary testing, the other engine is still running on conventional fuel. So if you look at it, there's a big difference between the left and the right engines, even the diameter of the blades and the number of blades. According to Universal Hydrogren, planes powered by hydrogen fuel cells are safer, cheaper to operate and have little impact on the environment. Their hydrogen fuel cells are modular and can be loaded and unloaded through the airport's existing cargo facilities, so the airport can meet the replenishment needs of hydrogen-powered aircraft without modification. In theory, bigger jets could do the same, with turbofans powered by hydrogen fuel cells expected to be in use by the mid-2030s.
In fact, Paul Eremenko, co-founder and CEO of Universal Hydrogen, believes jetliners will have to run on clean hydrogen by the mid-2030s, otherwise the industry will have to cut flights to meet mandatory industry-wide emissions targets. The result would be a sharp rise in ticket prices and a struggle to get a ticket. Therefore, it is urgent to promote the research and development of new energy aircraft. But this first flight also offers some hope for the industry.
The mission was carried out by Alex Kroll, an experienced former US Air Force test pilot and the company's lead test pilot. He said that in the second test tour, he was able to fly entirely on hydrogen fuel cell generators, without relying on primitive fossil fuel engines. "The modified aircraft has excellent handling performance and the hydrogen fuel cell power system produces significantly less noise and vibration than conventional turbine engines," Kroll said.
Universal Hydrogen has dozens of passenger orders for hydrogen-powered regional jets, including Connect Airlines, an American company. John Thomas, the company's chief executive, called Lightning McClain's flight "ground zero for the decarbonization of the global aviation industry."
Why is hydrogen-powered aircraft an option for carbon reduction in aviation?
Climate change is putting air transport at risk for decades to come.
Aviation emits just one-sixth as much carbon dioxide as cars and trucks, according to the World Resources Institute, a nonprofit research group based in Washington. However, planes carry far fewer passengers per day than cars and trucks.
The four largest airlines (American, United, Delta and Southwest) increased their jet fuel use by 15 percent between 2014 and 2019. However, despite the fact that more efficient and low-carbon aircraft have been put into production, passenger numbers have been on a downward trend since 2019.
Airlines are committed to becoming carbon neutral by mid-century, and some have invested in sustainable fuels to allow aviation to play an active role in climate change.
Sustainable fuels (SAFs) are biofuels made from cooking oil, animal fat, municipal waste or other feedstocks. The fuel can be blended with conventional fuels to power jet engines and is already being used in test flights and even on scheduled passenger flights. However, sustainable fuel is expensive, about three times as much as conventional jet fuel. As more airlines buy and use sustainable fuels, prices will rise further. Advocates are pushing for incentives such as tax breaks to boost production.
Sustainable fuels are seen as a bridge fuel that can cut carbon emissions until more significant breakthroughs such as electric or hydrogen-powered aircraft are achieved. In fact, these technologies may not be widely used in aviation for another 20 or 30 years.
Companies are trying to design and build electric aircraft, but most are small, helicopter-like planes that take off and land vertically and hold only a handful of passengers.
Making a large electric plane capable of carrying 200 passengers -- the equivalent of a mid-sized standard flight -- would require bigger batteries and longer flight times. By that standard, batteries would need to weigh about 40 times as much as jet fuel to be fully charged. But electric planes will not be possible without a revolution in battery technology.
Hydrogen energy is an effective tool to achieve low carbon emissions and plays an irreplaceable role in the global energy transition. The significant advantage of hydrogen energy over other renewable energy sources is that it can be stored on a large scale across seasons. Among them, green hydrogen is the only means of deep decarbonization in many industries, including the industrial fields represented by petrochemical, steel, chemical industry and the transportation industry represented by aviation. According to the International Commission on Hydrogen Energy, the hydrogen energy market is expected to reach $2.5 trillion by 2050.
"Hydrogen itself is a very light fuel," Dan Rutherford, a researcher on car and aircraft decarbonization at the International Council on Clean Transportation, an environmental group, told the Associated Press. "But you need large tanks to store hydrogen, and the tank itself is very heavy."
In addition, there are drawbacks and obstacles to the implementation of hydrogen fuel. For example, massive and expensive new infrastructure would be needed at airports to store hydrogen gas cooled into liquid form.
Still, Rutherford remains cautiously optimistic about hydrogen. His team believes hydrogen-powered planes will be able to travel about 2,100 miles by 2035.
Post time: Mar-16-2023