Leeham News and Analysis
There's more to real news than a news release.
Leeham News and Analysis
- How Trump tariffs affected, and could affect, Airbus, Boeing and Embraer December 6, 2024
- Start-up hybrid plane OEM MAEVE teams with MHIRJ for sales, more December 5, 2024
- Production increase delays hurt Airbus costs December 2, 2024
- Books to consider for Christmas November 29, 2024
- Slow, methodical process to restore Boeing’s trust, efficiencies November 28, 2024
Bjorn’s Corner: The challenges of Hydrogen. Part 3. Application space.
By Bjorn Fehrm
August 7, 2020, ©. Leeham News: In our series on Hydrogen as an energy store for airliners we now look at the emission targets one is chasing and then discuss for what type of airliner does a hydrogen propulsion system make sense.
The CO2 emission target as expressed by Air Transport Target Group (ATAG) is shown in Figure 1. The graph is from the EU report on Hydrogen Powered Aviation.
Figure 1. The development of CO2 from aviation and the ATAG 2050 target. Source: EU Hydrogen Powered Aviation report.
Bjorn’s Corner: The challenges of Hydrogen. Part 2. Ecosystem.
By Bjorn Fehrm
July 31, 2020, ©. Leeham News: In our series on Hydrogen as an energy store for airliner use we begin by looking at the needed ecosystem that can produce and distribute Hydrogen.
When I was skeptical about hydrogen as a means to propel our airliners three years ago, the main problem was the lack of this ecosystem. That year, in 2017, 13 transport and energy companies formed the Hydrogen Council, to create this ecosystem. Today the council has 81 members, with 22 joining in the last year, Figure 1. The list reads as Who’s Who in the transport and energy sector.
Figure 1. Members of the Hydrogen Council. Source: Hydrogen Council.
Bjorn’s Corner: The challenges of Hydrogen. Part 1. Background.
By Bjorn Fehrm
July 24, 2020, ©. Leeham News: What a difference three months make!
When I wrapped the 20 piece Corner series about e in ePlane not standing for electric, on the first of May, I was virtually alone in saying hydrogen is the best long term alternative to our airliners’ jet fuel.
Today it’s all about hydrogen, especially if you ask industry and authorities in Europe. What happened?
Figure 1. The Russian Tu-155 hydrogen fuel research aircraft that flew in 1988. Source: Tupolev.
France to invest 15 billion Euro in its aeronautical industry
By Bjorn Fehrm
June 10, 2020, ©. Leeham News: France presented a 15 billion Euro support plan for the French aeronautical industry yesterday, to help the industry overcome the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The plan has three focus areas:
- safeguard the employment of the 300,000 employed in the French aero industry
- transform the supplier network to a more robust structure
- and perhaps most interesting, set the direction for the industries’ next aircraft projects
The French Finance Minister announces the plan. Source: France 24.
Bjorn’s Corner: Why e in ePlane shall stand for environment, Part 20. Wrapup.
May 1, 2020, ©. Leeham News: We now wrap the series about technologies that can help reduce air transport’s environmental footprint.
I wrote in the first article, December 13: We have lost our way in our search for a lower carbon footprint air transport system by heading down the electric lane. I will argue why it’s not the best route as it’s not the route that leads to tangible results any time soon, despite huge investments.
In 19 Corners to date, we discussed why. It’s time to summarize what we learned.
Figure 1. The Gartner hype cycle. Source: Wikipedia.
Bjorn’s Corner: Why e in ePlane shall stand for environment, Part 19. ICAO CORSIA.
April 24, 2020, ©. Leeham News: Before we wrap the series about technologies that can help us reduce the environmental footprint of air transport, we describe what the ICAO emissions scheme CORSIA is, its goals, and comment on its importance.
Figure 1. The world’s CO2 emissions increased at a fast pace until today. Source: Wikipedia.
Bjorn’s Corner: Why e in ePlane shall stand for environment, Part 18. Low hanging fruit.
April 17, 2020, ©. Leeham News: We continue the summary of the series why e in ePlane should be more about environment focus than electric aircraft.
Last week we summarized the high hanging fruit technologies pursued presently, now we continue with the low hanging fruit.
Figure 1. The Gartner hype curve. Source: Wikipedia.
Bjorn’s Corner: Why e in ePlane shall stand for environment, Part 17. High hanging fruit.
April 10, 2020, ©. Leeham News: We have since December 13, discussed why e in ePlane should not stand for electric and covered a lot of areas explaining why electric aircraft or hybrids are not the best way to environmentally friendly air transport.
We now recap what we learned and then wrap the series.
Figure 1. The Gartner hype cycle. Source: Wikipedia.
Bjorn’s Corner: Why e in ePlane shall stand for environment, Part 16. Bio fuels.
April 3, 2020, ©. Leeham News: In this week’s Corner, we go deeper into bio-based carbon-neutral fuels. We described the two variants of bio-based and synthetic alternative fuels last week and gave an overview of the pros and cons of synthetic fuel.
Now we dig deeper into bio-based airliner jet fuels, an already existing carbon-neutral fuel type.
Figure 1. United is using biofuel for its operations from LAX. Source: United Airlines.
Bjorn’s Corner: Why e in ePlane shall stand for environment, Part 15. Carbon-neutral fuels.
March 27, 2020, ©. Leeham News: In this week’s Corner, we analyze the use of carbon-neutral fuels for airliner use.
Almost all variants of carbon-neutral fuels have the “drop-in” advantage, they can replace our regular jet fuel in a mixed capacity or entirely with none or minimal changes to our present aircraft and their engines.
It’s a big subject, and I will use the next Corners to explain the key alternatives, their production process, and what benefits and problems they bring.
Figure 1. airbp is distributing bio-jet fuel produced by Neste. Source: BP
