Rolls-Royce fires up its first hydrogen jet engine

Rolls-Royce has edged the era of clean aviation a little closer to take-off with the successful testing of a modern jet engine using hydrogen as fuel. The test is described as a landmark achievement and an important step in the decarbonization of the industry, with flight testing of the technology in the pipeline.

more…

thank fuck for coal or we wouldn’t be able to make enough electricity to produce all that hydrogen

SCIENCE said:

thank fuck for coal or we wouldn’t be able to make enough electricity to produce all that hydrogen

You must have missed this bit while reading the article

It uses green energy from wind and tidal power

While running a converted jet engine on hydrogen is an important box to tick off, equally important is where the hydrogen comes from. Hydrogen produced through what’s known as steam-methane reforming involves separating hydrogen atoms from methane, which releases carbon dioxide, though green hydrogen is gathering steam as the world works toward cleaner sources of energy.

This is produced through the electrolysis of water and is powered entirely by renewable energy, creating zero emissions as a result. In this case, the Rolls-Royce engine was powered by green hydrogen sourced through wind and tidal power generated at a facility in the UK’s Orkney Islands.

meh.

The Soviet Union converted an airliner to run on hydrogen back in the 1980s, and I think they did a few test flights too.

> This is produced through the electrolysis of water and is powered entirely by renewable energy,

ie. Incredible wastage of power.
About ten times more efficient to get hydrogen from natural gas.

Have they solved the hydrogen storage problems, such as hydrogen embrittlement of metals?

mollwollfumble said:

> This is produced through the electrolysis of water and is powered entirely by renewable energy,

ie. Incredible wastage of power.
About ten times more efficient to get hydrogen from natural gas.

Have they solved the hydrogen storage problems, such as hydrogen embrittlement of metals?

No.

It’s not particularly difficult to get a jet engine running on fuels other than Avtur or Jet-A, which is basically good kerosene. They’ll run on nearly any combustible liquid, though with varying restrictions.
The big problem is simply carrying enough hydrogen to make it a viable fuel. Lockheed’s famous Skunkworks researched building a hydrogen-powered spy plane in the late 50’s and found that they couldn’t carry enough fuel to give it a usable range.

Lockheed CL-400 Suntan

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UzIS5KSG7Uk

Tau.Neutrino said:

SCIENCE said:

thank fuck for coal or we wouldn’t be able to make enough electricity to produce all that hydrogen

You must have missed this bit while reading the article

It uses green energy from wind and tidal power

While running a converted jet engine on hydrogen is an important box to tick off, equally important is where the hydrogen comes from. Hydrogen produced through what’s known as steam-methane reforming involves separating hydrogen atoms from methane, which releases carbon dioxide, though green hydrogen is gathering steam as the world works toward cleaner sources of energy.

This is produced through the electrolysis of water and is powered entirely by renewable energy, creating zero emissions as a result. In this case, the Rolls-Royce engine was powered by green hydrogen sourced through wind and tidal power generated at a facility in the UK’s Orkney Islands.

so we’re talking about one prototype display model or are we talking about an actually meaningful scale

SCIENCE said:

Tau.Neutrino said:

SCIENCE said:

thank fuck for coal or we wouldn’t be able to make enough electricity to produce all that hydrogen

You must have missed this bit while reading the article

It uses green energy from wind and tidal power

While running a converted jet engine on hydrogen is an important box to tick off, equally important is where the hydrogen comes from. Hydrogen produced through what’s known as steam-methane reforming involves separating hydrogen atoms from methane, which releases carbon dioxide, though green hydrogen is gathering steam as the world works toward cleaner sources of energy.

This is produced through the electrolysis of water and is powered entirely by renewable energy, creating zero emissions as a result. In this case, the Rolls-Royce engine was powered by green hydrogen sourced through wind and tidal power generated at a facility in the UK’s Orkney Islands.

so we’re talking about one prototype display model or are we talking about an actually meaningful scale

Yes it is a prototype and there will be a few more as well and this is normal.

It is at full scale as they are using a real full sized jet engine.