Engine manufacturer Rolls Royce and airline Easyjet have successfully tested an aircraft engine running on hydrogen.

The test took place at an outdoor test facility at the UK Ministry of Defence’s Boscombe Down facility using a converted Rolls Royce AE 2100-A gas turbine engine that would normally run on kerosene-based jet fuel.

Following analysis of the early concept ground test, the two companies plan a series of further rig tests leading up to a full-scale ground test of a Rolls Royce Pearl 15 jet engine.

“We are committed to continuing to support this ground-breaking research because hydrogen offers great possibilities for a range of aircraft, including Easyjet-sized aircraft,” says Easyjet CEO Johan Lundgren.

Easyjet and Rolls Royce agreed to work together on the partnership in July. They aim to demonstrate that hydrogen has the potential to power a range of aircraft from the mid-2030s onwards.

“Hydrogen offers great possibilities for a range of aircraft, including Easyjet-sized aircraft” Lundgren, Easyjet

The partnership was developed through the UN-backed Race to Zero campaign, which both companies have signed up to, committing them to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.

Green hydrogen for the tests was supplied by testing and research organisation the European Marine Energy Centre and generated using renewable energy at its hydrogen production and tidal test facility in the Orkney Islands in the UK.

Exploring all options

While smaller aircraft are likely to be powered by battery engines, compressed hydrogen and hydrogen fuel cells, the global fleet of larger planes will likely initially opt for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). 

This is because hydrogen fuel tanks take up about four times as much space as the kerosene tanks required to fly the same distance. And SAF can effectively be used as a drop-in fuel for existing aircraft, removing the need to convert fleets to run on liquid hydrogen.

Hydrogen’s use directly as a fuel in gas turbine engines is likely to be kept to shorter-haul flights initially. But Rolls Royce says there is the possibility that it could be used for longer range flights as technology develops.

And Easyjet believes a liquid hydrogen value chain for aviation could be developed simultaneously with SAF.

Greater use of SAF and improved aircraft fuel efficiency will be the most important factors in reducing aviation sector emissions, according to the Mission Possible Partnership—an alliance of climate research groups and private companies.       

Earlier this year, UK firm Johnson Matthey unveiled a new technology called Hycogen that is able to efficiently convert CO₂ and green hydrogen into SAF.

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Author: Tom Young