At Cotswold Airport, close to Cirencester, ZeroAvia's hydrogen-electric engine has completed nine test flights. The engine simply releases water as an exhaust.
The engine will help the "decarbonization of aviation," according to Sergey Kiselev, vice president of ZeroAvia, as reported by BBC News.
Other aerospace companies are working on hydrogen-powered engines, although most don't anticipate commercial flights until 2035. How did they do it, and is it conceivable to fly much sooner than previously imagined without accelerating climate change?
The Dornier 228
Because they are not creating a whole new aircraft, the company is moving considerably more quickly. The Dornier 228 is a conventional 19-seater plane being developed by ZeroAvia. It has two propellers and is typically powered by kerosene.
One of them has been swapped out for an electric engine, and a hydrogen fuel cell is used to produce energy on board. In case of failure during the testing time, the other engine continues to run on kerosene.
However, after the technology is validated, both engines will use hydrogen fuel cell electricity. The only component that needs to pass safety tests is the new engine, and the business is collaborating with the Civil Aviation Authority to obtain certification.
About 12 passengers can ride on the Dornier 228 when it has a hydrogen engine. According to Chief Commercial Officer Sergey Kiselev, it can travel between 250 and 310 miles (400 and 500 kilometers). From Bristol Airport to Newcastle or London to Paris, you could travel that way.
The usage of hydrogen fuel cells in automobiles and trucks is not new. When hydrogen and oxygen are combined chemically, a process known as "reverse hydrolysis" is used to produce heat, water vapor, and, most importantly, electricity.
The business intends to release a larger hydrogen-electric engine by 2027 that will power larger aircraft. This might travel closer to 620 miles (1,000 km) and accommodate about 50 passengers.
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Customers are Now Signing Up for Carbon-Free Flights
The Cotswold Airport's hangar is modest and located distant from the large research facilities of Airbus, Rolls Royce, and Boeing. However, ZeroAvia has already received more than 1,500 orders for its initial engine.
One is Air Cahana, a brand-new airline from California with "a mission to decarbonize aviation."
The local environmental entrepreneur Dale Vince, who started the renewable energy company Ecotricity, was another early customer.
Larger aerospace companies are keeping an eye on the modest start-up. In its extensive research program ZeroE, Airbus also employs hydrogen. The company is investigating both using liquid hydrogen directly for burning and employing hydrogen fuel cells to generate electricity to power propellers.
However, Airbus plans to replace the tiny ZeroAvia engines with hydrogen-powered aircraft by 2035, a full decade later.
The business is facing at least two significant obstacles. One is to have a safe, approved, and operational engine by 2025. Making sure that there is some brand-new, fresh hydrogen waiting for the airplane when it lands at the other end will be the other, more difficult problem.
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