There are more solutions than obstacles. Nicolas Zart
Bring up the topic of hydrogen in mobility, and you will see passions rise, groups debate, and theories clash. Between well-meaning transportation futurists and deeply vested energy interests, hydrogen has a role to play in all mobility industries, but so do other gaseous energy fuels.
Making Sense of the Hydrogen Narrative
The aviation industry continues its quest for higher transportation efficiency and ultimately zero-emission flight, and hydrogen-powered planes dominate headlines and corporate press releases. Various other systems are studied, with MIT offering another potential solution. Researchers developed a reversible solid-oxide fuel cell that could enable mid-range electric flights and be twice as efficient as conventional designs.
MIT’s Potential Solution
MIT’s new fuel cell potential doubles that of hydrogen by achieving ~1,000 watts per kilogram, This potentially makes it a viable powertrain solution for a 150-seat aircraft, such as an Airbus A320 family and Boeing 737. It would allow the aircraft to cover ~1,000 miles on electric power. The fuel flexibility it offers allows it to run on conventional jet fuel, biofuels, or ammonia with little to no need for costly hydrogen infrastructure. Stay tuned for a podcast on ammonia generators from Catalys soon. Finally, the reversible operation of the fuel cell means it can be treated as a power generation and energy storage furthering its efficiency.
Hydrogen’s challenges are well-addressed by some companies. We will interview Alex Iveneko, whom I had the pleasure of having on a panel I moderated at the Augusta Regional Airport, and his HyWatt hydrogen solution.
While HyWatt’s system makes economic and practical sense, traditional hydrogen infrastructure is costly to retrofit airports. They are budgeted to exceed $150 billion in the U.S. alone, according to the Department of Energy (DoE) estimates. The bottlenecks are still not completely answered, such as up to 30% of hydrogen is wasted during liquefaction and transport. Local production and temporary storage alleviate this. And lastly, hydrogen storage heavy, cryogenic tanks in aircraft are eating into their payload capacity.
MIT’s fuel cell potentially sidesteps these hurdles entirely.
The Case for a Diversified Future
Most of us understand that aviation’s lower carbon footprint and efficiency won’t be won by a single technology. The industry has agreed to work on pure battery vehicles for short hops under 300 miles, leaving hybrid solutions for mid-range of 1,000 miles. MIT’s proposed solution would require minimal new infrastructure. Finally, hydrogen could be best suited for long-haul if it can be produced in a clean way and locally.
OEMs have bet billions on hydrogen and often pressure regulators to prioritize it. Policymakers too often conflate “hydrogen” with “zero-emission,” ignoring the production, transportation, storage, and considering less-costly alternatives.
AAM Calls for Technology-Neutral Operations
As AAM shapes to be agnostic, seamlessly integrates with other modes of transportation to create coherent mobility systems, infrastructure has to deal with electric charging, traditional aviation fuel, and hydrogen, ballooning costs for vertiiports and multiports. By following data and aiming for efficiency, cost, and scalability, AAM stands to revolutionize a coherent, agnostic ecosystem of transportation and energy.
As MIT’s Prof. Steven Barrett notes: “Aviation’s energy transition needs pragmatism, not dogma. Our fuel cell isn’t the only solution—but it deserves a seat at the table.”