Not that I'm aware of. This is the closest to anything like that:Didn't Australia just elect to use Pipistrel's Alpha Trainer, E-Version for it's basic flight trainer?
Not that I'm aware of. This is the closest to anything like that:Didn't Australia just elect to use Pipistrel's Alpha Trainer, E-Version for it's basic flight trainer?
"Current batteries are fit for purpose for 400-500 kilometer trips with 5-19 passengers, and in the coming decades will rapidly become viable for much longer journeys"Aviation will be disrupted from below by electric regional air mobility | illuminem
Electric vertical take off and landing air taxis dropping into urban vertiports — collectively urban air mobility or UAM — have taken up considerable space in headlines and investment circles, and have collectively lost over $21 billion in market capitalization, 77% of peak. Smart aviation...illuminem.com
First ammonia-powered jet flight in 2023: A roadmap to clean aviation
The entire airline industry needs to wean itself off jet fuel over the next few decades – but it's still buying enormously expensive jet aircraft that are expected to keep bringing home the bacon for more than 20 years. Australian company Aviation H2 hopes to clean up commercial flight by…newatlas.com
"Hydrogen gas is very light for the energy it holds and liquid hydrogen is a more compact form," Aviation H2 Director Christof Mayer tells us over a video chat.
"But the tanks are big and heavy. We certainly don't discount liquid hydrogen or any other form of hydrogen as an option. We're not shutting those down.
We're just going with ammonia for now. It's the simplest conversion, and that intrinsically will make it the most reliable, and that in itself makes it intrinsically the safest."
There are a few different ways to get the energy out of ammonia as electricity, but Aviation H2 has zeroed in on its potential as a combustion fuel.
With a few modifications, a regular jet engine can be converted to run on ammonia, eliminating all its carbon dioxide emissions in a way that doesn't throw the baby out with the bathwater.
The operation will be much faster and cheaper than a hydrogen fuel cell conversion, which would require you to throw out your perfectly good turbofan engines and replace them with electric motors, as well as gutting your fuel storage systems and putting in something radically different.
Potential very relevant book:
Or we can also consult this one for the history and evolution of this field of aviation.
Plenty of other issues with Ammonia
Plenty of other issues with Ammonia
The U.K. Flyzero project was undertaken by a bunch of LH2 disciples, hence it’s highly bias. Unfortunately LH2 was the answer from the get-go in order to fit in with strategic A-team demands and so only good news was welcome.
The studies LH2 “findings” on things like the achievable range are nonsense in that they completely ignore the storage volume vs drag at useable CoG’s. I mean their proposal of sitting Pax on top of an LH2 tank when the cert rules demand the under fuselage structure providing crash shock absorbency by crushing in the event of a wheels up landing…what!.. it’ll never fly. Possibly unsurprising I guess from a group of people who haven’t designed a fuselage, but it’s not difficult finding these details.
Most sensible, certification compliant, LH2 aeroplane studies show ridiculously short ranges at very high take off mass;- due to divergent design requirements. The B team’s has got this right and is behind their “we’re not looking at LH2 because you can’t get a practical product” statement.
The U.K. Flyzero project was undertaken by a bunch of LH2 disciples, hence it’s highly bias. Unfortunately LH2 was the answer from the get-go in order to fit in with strategic A-team demands and so only good news was welcome.
Solid ammonia??? As long as it isn't binded by some extra stuff it is at any enviromental temperature allways a gas or liquid (at 10 bar). Producing ammonia is a well understood process
Ammonia in combustion engines works fine, for fuel cells you need additional effort to clean the hydrogene.
I totally agree, nuclear energy (plus some regenerative energy) and Ammonia is the only cost effective realistic option which can be applied in large scale.
I also think that aircraft will go the same way cars have gone, there might me room for one 'Tesla' style start up/first mover, but when batteries develop, the existing aircraft manufacturers will convert their existing models over to electric."Current batteries are fit for purpose for 400-500 kilometer trips with 5-19 passengers, and in the coming decades will rapidly become viable for much longer journeys"Aviation will be disrupted from below by electric regional air mobility | illuminem
Electric vertical take off and landing air taxis dropping into urban vertiports — collectively urban air mobility or UAM — have taken up considerable space in headlines and investment circles, and have collectively lost over $21 billion in market capitalization, 77% of peak. Smart aviation...illuminem.com
The big problem is that several of the startups building ambitious commuter planes like Eviation and Heart Aerospace jumped the gun by launching their projects too early. The battery density needed to produce a viable commuter plane is not there yet. So when they fail along with many of their fellow eVTOL companies it's going to scare investors away for years. Aviation Week had a good article on Magnix where they claimed that 90% of these electric aircraft startups would fail and the remaining 10% would struggle to attract funding because so many investors would be wary of getting burned again. It's basically the very light jet bubble of the early 2000's all over again. The only difference is that because there is much interest in sustainable aviation at the government level, some of these projects might be provided incentives or outright subsidies to continue to try to make their designs work. Personally I think we might end up seeing a hybrid or even a hydrogen powered airliner enter service before a regional electric aircraft. The Brazilians are currently working on a hybrid military transport. I could definitely see a civilian version without a cargo ramp being developed for airline use.
Embraer and the Brazilian Air Force present their hybrid propulsion military aircraft project.
On November 13 and during the National Defense Seminar offered by the Brazilian Ministry of Defense, Air Brigade Lieutenant Antonio Carlos Moretti Bermúdez, prwww.aviacionline.com
Long term - maybe.the existing aircraft manufacturers will convert their existing models over to electric.
"Current batteries are fit for purpose for 400-500 kilometer trips with 5-19 passengers, and in the coming decades will rapidly become viable for much longer journeys"
but when batteries develop, the existing aircraft manufacturers will convert their existing models over to electric.
I’m kind of uncomfortable with pebble bet reactors, the danger of burning Graphite shouldn’t be underestimated and the radioactive waste of these designs is a bigger issue than that of conventional designs. The Graphite gets radioactive and is difficult to store, also it will be nearly impossible to reprocess the fuel. I’m more into molten salt or liquid metal cooled designs. I’m not sure whether liquid metal can provide enough temperature for splitting the water, is so, it would be a much better solution.
BTW. Methanol or Methan can also be produced by Hydrogene plus CO2 from Biogas production or direct air capturing. Of course, direct air capturing will limit the total efficiency, but as you might see here, it is ot totally unfeasable:
To clarify, I said 'when'. I'm aware that developments have been slow in batteries, but at some point there may be some progress."Current batteries are fit for purpose for 400-500 kilometer trips with 5-19 passengers, and in the coming decades will rapidly become viable for much longer journeys"
Not even close I’m afraid, they’ll struggle to get 100-200km for just 5 pax in the real world. The chap that wrote this article has a vested interest in promoting ultra optimism and this is the type of article which is miss-leading the whole sector.
but when batteries develop, the existing aircraft manufacturers will convert their existing models over to electric.
The lightest and most power dense batteries that exist today are made from the least dense solid known to man that can only give up one electron;- the technology is firmly wedged in a corner. All the pundit battery development predictions from the last 5-7 years have proven to be hopelessly wrong (the self proclaimed “technology strategist” that wrote the above article is one these;- I’ve seen a few of his previous predictions ). Why are people clinging to batteries are going to get significantly better?
Converting existing products is a non starter, just about every aspect of a conventional IC aeroplane is wrong for battery electric.
The breaktrough technology is supposed to be the liquid H2, which gives far greater energy density and should be compact enough to be retrofitted in existing airframes. Hence their idea of converting an existing lightplane.Furl cells and H2 is hardly a new concept!
The breaktrough technology is supposed to be the liquid H2, ……should be compact enough to be retrofitted in existing airframes. Hence their idea of converting an existing lightplane.