Hydrogen Airplanes

The future of hydrogen as a fuel Source

When talking about global warming and the pollution of the atmosphere, what first crosses the mind is huge factories and cars; less focus is on airplanes, which are guilty of polluting the atmosphere maybe even more than we thought.

In a more specific term, flying pollution is responsible for 5 percent of global warming today. Yet, there is no remarkable measure to tackle the issue.

Airplanes are monsters for climate

Contrails of airplanes do not last for a long time in the air; however, they are now too widespread to neglect. The warming effect of airplane contrails is now even bigger than that of the total CO2 emitted by airplanes and accumulated in the air since the very first flight of the Wright brothers.

The non-CO2 warming effect of airplanes is predicted to triple by 2050, i.e. from 50 milliwatts per square meter of Earth’s surface, measured in 2006, to 160 mW/m2. On the other hand, the CO2 from aviation will make global warming increase from 24 to 84 mW/m2 by 2050 too. Therefore, air pollution is extremely of high importance.

The bad news is that cutting the contrails pollution is even much harder than that of CO2. Plus, the situation is going to exacerbate even further; the aviation industry in 2010 transported 2.4 billion passengers, while the number is going to soar to 16 billion in 2050.

One big solution: hydrogen airplanes

Clean energies are the solution to many sources of pollution, and aviation pollution is nothing different. One big solution for the issue is to build airplanes that run on hydrogen fuel. Just a week ago Airbus announced that they are going to build the world’s first hydrogen-powered airplanes with zero-emission. They will launch the project in 2035.

Hydrogen is a sustainable, green fuel that does not produce harmful emissions. Planes that run on hydrogen will emit only water and can fly as fast as current planes. A 45-seater hydrogen aircraft will be able to fly as fast as 600 km/h, compared to 850 km/h for a Boeing 747. Not only can hydrogen airplanes be fast, but they are also being designed to be much quieter thanks to turbine-type propulsion and high-speed motors.

Although we need to wait another 15 years for hydrogen-powered planes to be practical, the future of aviation will subsequently be much greener than today. Experts predict that hydrogen-powered airplanes can provide flights of up to 3,000 kilometers by 2035 and up to 7,000 kilometers by 2040. Therefore, only long-range flights will remain for traditional airplanes by that time. It means that by 2035, all big cities around Europe will get connected by hydrogen airplanes. Also, roughly 40 percent of all European fights will be powered by hydrogen by 2050.

The future of hydrogen

Most of the hydrogen produced today comes from reforming methane from natural gas, which is a fossil fuel and emits CO2. However, new technologies such as Power-to-X are on the way to produce green hydrogen. Power-to-X and similar technologies are meant to use renewable electricity to convert water into hydrogen and oxygen. Producing hydrogen this way is totally green, hence making hydrogen-powered aviation a truly green industry, aiming for a carbon-neutral future by 2050.

Adapting to hydrogen

Currently, it is too expensive to produce clean hydrogen, and we have to wait for some more years. The cost of clean hydrogen generation has to fall to $2 per kilogram from $3.5 to be cost-effective. Around $70 billion have to be invested in hydrogen generation technologies to enable it to compete with other low-carbon sources of energy. This is why natural gas is still the main source of fuel.

Despite the cost that is the biggest obstacle ahead of hydrogen production, many companies around the world are planning to replace fossil fuels with green hydrogen. Some companies are also planning to produce the required hydrogen for other industries. To mention only some:

· Plug Power and Ballard Power Systems are developing hydrogen fuel cells.

· Bloom Energy has promised to build its solid oxide electrolyzer by 2021 to separate H2 fromO2 in water molecules.

· Microsoft and BMW are developing their own hydrogen fuel cells.

· Airbus is building hydrogen airplanes by 2035.

· Cummins and Bosch have invested as much as $1 billion to manufacture fuel cells during the last years.

· In the U.S., NextEra has unveiled its clean hydrogen generation projects with a $65 million budget.

· In Spain, Iberdrola has unveiled its clean hydrogen generation projects with a $65 million budget.

What about big oil and gas companies?

The scenario is pretty similar for even big oil and gas companies. It seems that the age of such companies is reaching an end. Moreover, their new problem is that the oil demand has plunged recently due to the coronavirus, warning them to be faster to change the nature of their product, in order not to become the extinct dinosaurs of the new era. That is why they are one by one changing their products and shift towards electricity and hydrogen:

· Last month, Royal Dutch Shell planned to build a vast wind farm in the Netherlands.

· France’s Total agreed to make huge investments in solar power in Spain and a wind farm in Scotland.

· Total bought an electric gas utility in Spain.

· Shell and BP are expanding their electric vehicle charging business.

· Many oil companies are ditching their well-drilling plans.

· Shell recently said it will delay new fields in the Gulf of Mexico.

· BP has promised not to seek oil in any new country.

This is all to say that hydrogen is going to play a pivotal role in the future of fuel systems, and the aviation industry is no exception.