Why Airbus’s Hydrogen Face an Uphill Battle
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- Опубликовано: 9 окт 2020
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Achieving zero emissions has long been a goal of the aviation industry, and it’s been an elusive one at that. In the past decade alone, both Boeing and Airbus - with their Sugar Volt and E-Fan X - have unveiled concept aircraft designed to achieve carbon-neutrality. But such concepts have been nothing but aspirational - they have yet to result in viable commercial products.
But in September 2020, something interesting happened. Airbus unveiled a new zero emission concept, aptly named the ZeroE. This program aims to use hydrogen fuels to power future aircraft. But, unlike past concepts, Airbus has actually given a concrete timetable for its entry into service: 2035. Now hydrogen fuels offer great promise for a potential zero-emission future, but there are some really big obstacles that Airbus still needs to overcome. So, will we actually see a hydrogen-powered plane in 2035, or will ZeroE become just another failed concept? Let me explain...
#Airbus #ZeroE
1920: why jet engines will fail
While it's true what you mention about the hydrogens energy density, its important to remark the volume that would be needed to store all that hydrogen. The idea is to store it as a liquid, not in gas phase as you mention.
Most Hydrogen is produced by methane convertion not electrolysis. It's used for making fertilizer. CH4+Steam -> H2+CO2.
Important to remember that a huge proportion of aviation flights and emissions occur between a few large hub airports. Just equipping over a handful of the largest hub airports over to hydrogen propulsion would make a huge difference. Smaller short-haul regional flights could potentially be done with electric aircraft that require less infrastructural improvements.
Several errors. Emissions are not zero. Combustion of hydrogen generates NOx. Hydrogen takes a lot of volume to store which is not mentioned. Finally the most common way to make hydrogen is not electrolysis. The most common way by far is from natural gas through a process called steam reforming. Would be great to hear Coby comment this.
Great video - even if I disagree slightly. One thing we learned from the A380 is that airports can make significant infrastructure changes - and seeing how many countries are charging climate fees on airline tickets, I believe it's absolutely possible that airports will adopt to hydrogene (especially in Canada, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and China)
The Hydroplane will definitely be quieter than any other planes.
Less than 10% of global hydrogen is produced via electrolysis, the vast majority comes from methane vaporeforming. Thus the current price of hydrogen is not explained by how electrolysis works and carbon neutral electrolysis would likely be more expensive than current prices at first.
It's definitely quite ambitious, and Zeroe feels more like a startup venture than the venture of a long established player. However, Airbus is the market leader in non-fossil fuel based aviation, both in regards to Hydrogen and Electric, so I trust their expertise. As for infrastructure, I suppose government intervention will be very likely be necessary, but the prospect of zero CO2 emissions in aviation is quite tantalising. Of course, something to remember, is that water vapour doesn't have zero consequences. They are also contributing factors to global warming, and if hundreds of these planes fly, they might inadvertently cloud seed areas of the world and alter weather lol. Pretty cool video though!
I think you're partially missing one thing: it is, in my view, not unimaginable that in 15-20 years certain countries, and especially the EU, will choose to limit or even block altogether commercial flights that rely on "non-clean energy". That's even more likely to happen if some company - any company (doesn't have to be Airbus or Boeing) - offers planes that rely on clean energy. In that scenario, if Airbus has a good hydrogen-fueled plane to offer its customers, this will not only be viable, but might actually save Airbus from being wiped out (which would probably be the case if Airbus can't offer such a solution but another company can, and governments choose to get rid of polluting flights by law).
Man set foot on the moon in 1969 ... I'm pretty sure this can be done by 2035 but something huge is required ... Willpower !
This video ignores the issue with hydrogen that it takes up significantly more space than jet fuel and the tanks are heavier. The tanks aren't very space efficient either as they need to be designed to hold the gas under a huge amount of pressure.
at the end of the day, it's not a zero emission energy source because of the law on conservation of energy....
Wait, I thought this program does come from government intervention!? If I remember correctly, the French government has given Airbus money to survive Covid in exchange of Airbus working on more environmental-friendly options for future aviation. So, I wouldn't be too worried about the government aspect part of this program as EU is likely to have got its back. To be honest, this is what governments are supposed to be: investing into areas that improve the world. Right now, we don't have many choices anyway, either we stop flying / return to pre-modern age, or we carry out critical renovations that allow us to continue our modern lives while not heating up the planet. So, it has to be done.
If the turboprop can refill at hub airports, it could do the round trip on the same tank
Japan is also investing heavily in Hydrogen, that’s something to look at.
Good points overall, but there's one caveat: you said Airbus doesn't have a sub-100 passenger plane. That may be true in the strictest sense, but the ATR-72 is manufactured by ATR, of which Airbus owns 50%. So it has half a sub-100 passenger plane, if you will. That said, it's a bit old now, so by 2035, it will be ripe for replacement.
That blended wing plane at
I always love seeing people talk about the a220 because that almost always means I can see some footage of my local airline, swiss
While hydrogen's energy density is high, the density of the fuel itself is very low (even when liquified). This would result in having to use significantly more volume for fuel tankage than you would for a hydrocarbon-based fuel system. If you add on the additional weight required for cryogenic and/or high pressure tankage, the problem gets even worse. While I would love to see a viable zero-emission fuel for aircraft, hydrogen is simply not a viable way to accomplish this at this point.