HYDROGEN AS AN ALTERNATIVE FUEL FOR COMMERCIAL AIRPLANES

Nithyapathi.C, Aravind Kumar T.R, Subanesh Shyam R

Abstract: Air traffic today contributes about 3% to the anthropogenic greenhouse effect. This number may change due to increase of air traffic and the decrease of the major CO2 producers of the day. LH2 could be an alternative to the hydrocarbon fuel like cheap kerosene or any other designed hydrocarbon fuel. It could be fuel suitable for aircraft to be produced from renewable energy and offering extremely low emissions (zero CO2, very low NOX). It has the potential to eliminate the dependency of aviation upon dwindling crude oil resources and to reduce dramatically, the contribution of aviation to the anthropogenic greenhouse effect. Use of liquid hydrogen hence could allow sustainable growth of aviation at high rates(typically 4-5% per year) with an extreme low impact on the environment.

Keywords: hydrogen, environment, aviation.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.15623/ijret.2013.0204011