E.U. lauds hydrogen aircraft fuel, but Boeing still dubious

Herald staff and Associated Press

BRUSSELS, Belgium — A project led by Airbus to develop aircraft that run on hydrogen has gotten off to a flying start, the European Union Commission said Wednesday.

The Boeing Co. also is researching liquid hydrogen fuels, but doesn’t see them being practical in the near future, a spokeswoman said.

In Europe, the commission unveiled on Wednesday the first results of the E.U.-funded Cryoplane project. The results show "use of liquid hydrogen is technically feasible, and would greatly reduce the environmental impact of aviation without affecting safety," the commission said.

The E.U. is keen for hydrogen-powered planes to be developed because they produce far fewer emissions of greenhouse gases than conventional kerosene-powered engines.

The environmental benefits are impressive — the major byproduct of burning hydrogen being water — but a number of technical challenges remain.

"Hydrogen is much lighter than kerosene and has a higher energy content," said Reiner Dunker, the project’s scientific adviser. "But it is a high-volume fuel that would require larger fuel tanks."

Infrastructure must also be developed, including production sites and refueling facilities. At present, the only major hydrogen producer is in French Guiana for the Arianne 5 rocket.

Getting the fuel into the aircraft is another technical challenge, as the pumps used to fuel rockets aren’t suitable for planes.

"Rockets only have to be propelled for a few minutes; planes have to fly for hours," Dunker said.

It’s these kinds of infrastructure issues that are holding back development of liquid hydrogen-powered planes, said Mary Jean Olsen, a spokeswoman for Boeing’s commercial airplane engineering group in Renton.

Without a system to manufacture and distribute the fuel, "we don’t see it in the near future," she said. "Its time is just not here yet."