as a universal A Hydrogen-branded plane, powered by the largest hydrogen fuel cell ever to power an aircraft, makes its maiden flight in eastern Washington, with co-founder and CEO Paul Eremenko calling the moment “aviation’s new golden age.” declared the dawn of an era.
Although the modified Dash-8 aircraft’s 15-minute test flight was short, it showed hydrogen to be a viable fuel for short-haul passenger aircraft. That is, if Universal Hydrogen (and other companies in the emerging world of hydrogen flight) can make the necessary technical and regulatory advances to make it a mainstream product.
A local airport staple, the Dash-8 typically carries up to 50 passengers in a short hop. The Dash-8 used on Thursday’s test flight out of Moses Lake’s Grant County International Airport carried a distinctly different cargo. Nicknamed Lightning McLean, the Universal Hydrogen tester is equipped with a number of technologies, including electric motors and hydrogen fuel cells, supplied by two pilots, an engineer, and two of his other start-ups. was
The simplified interior contained two racks of electronics and sensors and two large hydrogen tanks with 30 kg of fuel. Under the plane’s right wing, the magnX electric motor was powered by Plug Power’s new hydrogen fuel cell. This system turns hydrogen into electricity and water. This is an emission-free power plant that Eremenko believes represents the future of aviation.
The fuel cell ran throughout the flight, producing up to 800 kW of electricity and producing only water vapor, putting a smile on the faces of Universal Hydrogen’s engineers and investors.
“I think it’s a pretty monumental achievement,” said Eremenko. “It is on track to have possibly the first certified hydrogen aircraft in passenger service.”
Aviation currently accounts for about 2.5% of global carbon emissions and is projected to grow by 4% each year.
continue to use jet fuel
Universal Hydrogen branded planes also relied on jet fuel. Notice the Pratt & Whitney turboprop engine under one wing. Image credit: Mark Harris
A successful test flight doesn’t mean completely zero-carbon aviation is just around the corner.
Underneath the Dash-8’s other wing is a standard Pratt and Whitney turboprop engine (notice the difference in the photo above) with about twice the power of the fuel cell side. I was. This redundancy helped a smooth pass with the FAA, which issued an experimental special airworthiness certificate for Dash-8 testing in early February.
One of the test pilots, Michael Bockler, told TechCrunch that the aircraft “fly like a regular Dash-8 with very little yaw.” He said at one point, in level flight, the plane was flying almost entirely on fuel cell power, with the turboprop throttling his engine.
“Until both motors are hydrogen-powered, it’s still a show,” said a senior engineer who consults for the sustainable aviation industry. “But I don’t want to ridicule it because I need these stepping stones to learn.”
One problem with today’s fuel cells is that they are difficult to cool. Jet engines run much hotter, but most of that heat is expelled through the exhaust. Because fuel cells use an electrochemical reaction rather than simply burning hydrogen, waste heat must be removed through a system of heat exchangers and vents.
ZeroAvia, another start-up developing hydrogen fuel cells for aviation, plans to power down its first flying prototype in 2021 to cool it in the air before crashing it and restarting it. Could not boot. ZeroAvia has since flown again with a hybrid hydrogen/fossil fuel setup similar to Universal Hydrogen, albeit a smaller twin-engine aircraft.
Universal Hydrogen CTO Mark Cousin told TechCrunch that the fuel cell can run all day long without overheating, thanks to the large air ducts.
Another problem with fuel cell aircraft is storing the hydrogen needed for flight. Even in its densest, supercooled liquid form, hydrogen contains only about a quarter of the energy of the same amount of jet fuel. Wing tanks are not large enough for all but the shortest flights, so fuel must be stored inside the fuselage. His 15-minute flight today used about 16 kg of gaseous hydrogen. That’s half of what’s stored in his two bike-sized tanks in the cabin. Universal Hydrogen plans to convert the tester to run on liquid hydrogen later this year.
Create a module
Universal hydrogen module. Image credit: Mark Harris
Eremenko co-founded Universal Hydrogen in 2020, which raised $20.5 million in a 2021 Series A funding round led by Playground Global. The funding to date is approaching $100 million, including investments from Airbus, General Electric, American Airlines, JetBlue and Toyota. The company is headquartered right next to his SpaceX in Hawthorne, Calif., and has an engineering facility in Toulouse, France.
Universal Hydrogen plans to conduct further tests at Moses Lake. The company will work on additional software development and eventually convert the plane to use liquid hydrogen. Early next year, the aircraft will likely be retired and the fuel cell will head to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.
Universal Hydrogen hopes to start shipping fuel cell conversion kits for regional aircraft like the Dash-8 as early as 2025. The company has already received nearly 250 conversion orders worth more than $1 billion from 16 customers, including Air New Zealand. John Thomas, CEO of Connect Airlines, who plans to become the first U.S. airline to use Universal Hydrogen technology, said, “The partnership will give the global airline industry the fastest path to zero-emission operations. I will provide the way,” he said.
Universal Hydrogen not only manufactures razors, they also sell blades.
Almost all hydrogen used today is produced at the point of consumption. This is not only because hydrogen is leaky and can damage traditional steel containers, but in its most useful form (compact liquid) it must be kept at a temperature of only 20 degrees above absolute zero, This is because it usually requires expensive refrigeration equipment.
The liquid hydrogen used in the Moses Lake test was supplied by a commercial “green hydrogen” gas supplier and was produced using renewable energy. Very little of the hydrogen produced today is made this way.
Green hydrogen needs to be much easier and cheaper to produce, store and transport if the hydrogen economy is to truly put the brakes on the climate crisis.
Eremenko originally started Universal Hydrogen, designing a standardized hydrogen module that could be transported in a standard semi-truck and easily installed in aircraft and other vehicles for immediate use. The current design can hold liquid hydrogen for up to 100 hours, which Nespresso often likens to the convenience of his unit. Universal Hydrogen says he will have more than $2 billion in fuel service orders over the next decade.
A prototype module was demonstrated in December, and the company plans to build a 630,000-square-foot manufacturing facility in Albuquerque, New Mexico later this year. This nearly $400 million project of his depends on the success of his previously unreported US Department of Energy loan application of more than $200 million. Eremenko said the application has passed the first stage of due diligence within his DOE.
long runway
Some experts are skeptical that hydrogen will significantly reduce aircraft emissions. Bernard van Dijk, an aeronautical scientist at the Hydrogen Science Coalition, appreciates the simplicity of Universal Hydrogen’s module, but points out that even NASA has trouble controlling hydrogen leaks in its rockets. . “You still have to connect the canister to the aircraft. “I think they also underestimate the whole certification process for new hydrogen powertrains.”
Even if these obstacles are overcome, there is still the problem of using renewable power to produce sufficient amounts of green hydrogen. “To survive all the flights in Europe on hydrogen, he would need 89,000 large wind turbines to produce enough hydrogen,” van Dijk said. “They will cover an area about twice the size of Holland.”
But Eremenko is confident Universal Hydrogen and its partners can make it work with the help of a $3 per kilogram subsidy for green hydrogen in Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act. “There are all reasons why he can’t sleep at night, but the cost and availability of green hydrogen is not the only one,” he says.
