Catching up with ENABLEH2: Rekindling interest in hydrogen-fuelled technologies for zero-emission air travel
The ENABLEH2 project may have suffered some COVID-19-related delays before it ended in January 2023, but it has since wasted no time in using its technological achievements to further develop hydrogen-based air travel. One such development is research produced by Swedish project partner Chalmers University of Technology, which shows that around 97 % of short- and medium-range Nordic flights could be hydrogen-powered by 2045. The technology making this possible is a new type of compact heat exchanger, a key component of hydrogen aviation developed with support from ENABLEH2. The heat exchanger takes advantage of hydrogen’s low storage temperature to cool engine parts, and then uses waste heat from the exhaust gases to preheat the fuel several hundred degrees before it is injected into the combustion chamber. Regarding the impact on engines using liquid hydrogen, Chalmers University researchers have shown that combining intercooling, micromix combustion and exhaust heat recuperation should improve fuel burn by 8 % and reduce take-off nitrogen oxide (NOx) emissions by 38 %.
Advancements beyond
The experience gained in low-NOx hydrogen micromix combustion and liquid hydrogen tank and fuel system design within ENABLEH2 enabled British project coordinator Cranfield University to make significant contributions to FlyZero, a project working towards zero-carbon-emission commercial aviation by 2030. Additionally, the thermal management systems used in studies of liquid hydrogen-fuelled engines in another EU-funded project, MINIMAL, also benefit from synergistic combinations of technologies identified in ENABLEH2. Chalmers University has also created a new competence centre for hydrogen integration in transport focused on accelerating development of new technologies that enable the use of hydrogen in aviation, maritime and road applications. As a result of the ENABLEH2 experiments in hydrogen combustion, Cranfield University has received more funding for hydrogen-related projects, including for the development of a micromix combustor in a project led by Rolls Royce. Thanks to EU funding, ENABLEH2 has succeeded in generating interest in hydrogen-fuelled aviation. “The EUR 3.9 million enabled its partners to develop capabilities that have already made major contributions to the emerging technologies for net-zero hydrogen-fuelled aviation,” states Cranfield University senior research fellow Andrew Rolt.
Keywords
ENABLEH2, hydrogen, aviation, flight, heat exchanger, combustion, air travel, liquid hydrogen