Seminar on

“Alternative fuels for commercial

aircrafts”
By
Shashishekarayya.R.Hiremath
M.Tech. 1 sem Aeronautical
Engg.
M.V.J.C.E Bangalore
Overview
Need for alternative fuels
Types of alternatives
Near term
Mid term
Far term
Conclusion
Need for Alternatives
Diminishing discovery of new petroleum sources and
ever increasing demand.
Next generation aircrafts will see 15%-20 % fuel efficient,
making air travel one of the most efficient means of
transportion,so aircraft industries will still require an
increasing amount of fuel
Near term alternatives
Drop in fuels

Synthetic Jet fuel:

 Prepared from Fischer –Tropsch process (FT)

 Natural gas and coal are main feedstocks
 Positive Attributes:
Cleaner burning fuels with no sulfur
Higher Thermal Stability
Lower particulate Engine Emission
Show excellent low temperature properties
Maintaining low viscosity at lower temperature
Negative Attributes:
Poorer lubrication properties
Lower volumetric heat content
Possible contributor to elastomer leakage
Increased CO2 emission during its manufacture
Mid term Alternatives
10-25 years from now

Blending biofuels with synjets

Some changes in existing engine configuration

Challenges to be overcome:
Propensity to freeze at normal operating cruise
temperatures
Poor high thermal stability characteristics in engine
Limited excess farm land

One Promising feedstock for bio fuels is Algae.

Far term alternatives
Need to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, therefore
low to zero carbon fuels has to be used.

 Liquid Methane

 Liquid Hydrogen
Methane Gas
Huge amounts of methane gas is trapped in the forms of
methane hydrates.

0.3 X 1012 m3 in middle east and soviet-union

21.1012 m3 in Americas
Major issues to be considered
Economics of recovery under unfamiliar & inconvenient
deep under sea conditions.
Environmental and Technical feasibility
Safety aspects during extraction.
Extraction in permafrost areas may cause global
warming.
Liquid Hydrogen
Historical and Technological Evolution of LH2
 The first aircraft that flew with hydrogen was a US Air Force B-57 twin
bomber that in 1956
 In 1988, the Soviets experimented with a modified TU-154 (renamed TU-
155), with one engine (out of the two) operated on hydrogen alone.
 Retired Pan American pilot Bill Conrad converted a four seater Grutnnab
Cheetah to run on hydrogen in 1988.
 During the 1989 Paris Air Show, the German partner in the European
Airbus, Messerschmidt-Boelkkov-lBlohm (MBB), showed an interest in
developing a hydrogen fueled twin of the Airbus A310.
 Samara “Trud” Project (Samara State Scientific and Production Enterprise
(SSSPE) TRUD),
cryoplane design adopted by
Russian-German
Cooperative Venture on the
basis of an existing Airbus
A310

 NASA-Langley Research
Center
LH2 advantage
 Higher specific energy (119 190 kJ/kg) than conventional fuel (43 60
kJ/kg). Higher fuel efficiency. Wider range of flammability.

 Higher flame speed. Higher combustion temperature.

 Reduced gross weight (26%). Reduced wing area (18%). Smaller engines
and noise reduction. High heat sink capacity. Cruise lift-to-drag ratio
reduced by 10-18%.

 NO missions of CO, CO*, particles, HC, S compounds and odor. Reduced

NO, (33% or less of that produced by today’s turbofan engines using
combustion chambers with premixing)
LH2 disadvantage
Four times lower energy per unit volume.
More voluminous fuselage. Necessity of cryogenic fuel
system.
Airport hydrogen plant with following units needed:
Electrolyzer, purification, liquefier, storage and
distribution system About 2.5 times more H2O
Environmental considerations
Production of Nox
Green house effect of water vapor increases enormously.
Hydrogen is the most advantageous environmental option
over carbon based fuels, since it does not produce CO 2
CO, SO2, HC, etc., and lowers NOx emission.
Safety and handling
Hydrogen is an extremely volatile fuel, which has to be
handled with great care. Never the less it is not unsafe.
placement of fuel tanks.
Hydrogen has a wide flammability range.
Liquid hydrogen, along with other cryogens, has a high
liquid-to-gas volume expansion ratio, so that liquid
hydrogen piping should always include a pressure relief
device.
Economics of LH 2 aircraft
LH2 aircraft, the most influential factor is the fuel cost,
representing 50% of the total DOC.
LH2 price will decrease as large scale industrial facilities
are installed.
Need to build industrial facilities for LH2 production.
 conclusion
The short-term option of synthetic fuels processed in the
FT process meets the first target, , it will not reduce CO2
emissions over the entire life cycle.
Algae seem to be a promising future feedstock option
which could provide a much higher oil yield per hectare
than present bio-fuels.
The large scale introduction of hydrogen into aviation
presents no unsolvable technical problems, but it does
involve the need for the following work items:
A thorough study of the components of a cryogenic fuel
system, mainly as regards the structural materials for
tanks, pipes and insulation systems.
Developing monitoring systems to detect hydrogen leaks
in hydrogen installations.
Research on reducing NOx emissions.