Airbus wants shipping’s help to push ahead with its plans to put a stop to emissions in the aviation sector.
The company, one of the world’s top aircraft manufacturers, has committed to putting into service by 2035 a zero emissions aircraft powered by hydrogen.
Mads Bondergaard, head of operations for Airbus Asia Pacific, joined the Sea Asia conference on Tuesday to seek the shipping industry’s help to make this happen.
Bondergaard explained that Airbus is working in partnership with airports, airlines, regulators and engine manufacturers to make its goal a reality, and it needs to get the shipping industry on board so that hydrogen-fuelled aircraft will be able to operate worldwide.
Airbus’s concern is how large volumes of hydrogen needed to fuel aircraft will be transported to airports around the world.
Of particular concern, Bondergaard said, is how hydrogen could be transported to airports in the remotest parts of the world.
Conventional aviation fuel is regularly transported on product tankers but Bondergaard questioned whether capacity exists in shipping for transporting large quantities of hydrogen.
There is no hydrogen tanker capacity right now barring a one small pilot project vessel, the 1,250-cbm Suiso Frontier, which has only just been completed Japanese shipbuilder Kawasaki Heavy Industries.
Several other projects involving large commercial hydrogen carriers are on the drawing board. Designs are also being drawn up for bunker vessels that will be able to supply future vessels that will use hydrogen as an alternative fuel.
Bondergaard stressed that shipping and aviation should work close cooperation given that both industries plan to use similar alternative fuels.
In the aviation sector, he explained, alternative fuel prices are currently at 2.5 times more than conventional aviation fuel.
“What I would like is for shipping and aviation to work together, be the voice and drive the costs down,” he said.
“We are all looking at the end goal- the reduction of our carbon footprint.”
Airbus coalition
Airbus has revealed three distinct concepts for the world’s first zero-emission commercial aircraft which could enter service by 2035.
These concepts each represent a different approach to achieving zero-emission flight, exploring various technology pathways and aerodynamic configurations in order to support the aircraft manufacturer’s ambition of leading the way in the decarbonisation of the entire aviation industry.
Zero-Emission Development Centres in have been set up Germany and France to develop metallic hydrogen tanks by for the aircraft.
The goal of these centres is to achieve cost-competitive cryogenic tank manufacturing to accelerate the development of hydrogen-propulsion technologies.
Airbus has also formed a joint venture with French industrial gasses company Air Liquide and airport operator VINCI Airports to promote the use of hydrogen at airports and build a European airport network to accommodate future hydrogen aircraft.
Lyon-Saint Exupery will be the pilot airport and will receive a hydrogen gas distribution station in 2023. This station will supply both the airport's ground vehicles and those of its partners, as well as the heavy goods vehicles that drive around the airport.
This first phase will test the airport's facilities and dynamics as a "hydrogen hub".
Further deployment of liquid hydrogen infrastructures between 2023 and 2030 will allow hydrogen to be provisioned into the tanks of future aircraft.
Beyond 2030 infrastructure deployment will focus on the mass production and distribution of liquid hydrogen at the airport.
By 2030, the three partners will study the possibility of equipping VINCI Airports' European airport network with the hydrogen production, storage and supply facilities needed for use on the ground and on board aircraft.
“This partnership illustrates the partners' shared commitment to decarbonizing air travel and is a major step forward for the development of hydrogen across the airport ecosystem,” Airbus said in a press statement released on Tuesday.
“It relies on the know-how of Airbus in commercial aircraft, on Air Liquide's expertise in mastering the entire hydrogen value chain (production, liquefaction, storage and distribution) and on the global reach of VINCI Airports, the leading private airport operator with 45 airports in 12 countries, which will help create the desired network.”
At the same time, Airbus is partnering with close to 20 commercial airlines on the hydrogen project, the latest being Air New Zealand, which joined on 16 September.
