Economic and ecological aspects of the use of new cryogenic aviation fuels

Vyacheslav Kraev,Irina Kuzmina-Merlino,Alexey Tikhonov

doi:10.5937/jaes0-31570

Abstract

Until recently, the high rates of aircraft engine engineering's development were ensured by the technological solutions improvement and the desire to approximate as much as possible the ideal thermodynamic cycle of turbojet engines. The traditional fuel for turbojet engines is an aviation kerosene - Jet-A fuel group and their regional analogies. The traditional way of aircraft engines efficiency increasing is a raising of a temperature in front of the high-pressure turbine. New alloys and technologies allow to increase the aircraft engines efficiency to a certain level. Raising the temperature in the combustion chamber by 50 degrees increases the efficiency, which leads to a 5% reduction in fuel consumption. However, this approach is technology limited and does not provide innovative solutions. The aircraft engine engineering's development tempo in the 21st century continues to accelerate. The main driver of such processes in recent years is the tightening of economic and environmental requirements. Many aircraft manufacturers are actively looking for ways to reach a new qualitative level in terms of turbojet engines economic efficiency and meeting strict environmental requirements. The paper considers the feasibility of using new cryogenic fuels in aircraft turbojet engines, and possible ways for aircraft industry successful development.

Highlights

In the 21st century, the problems of the ecology triggered by aviation transport were identified as priory
On basis of careful evaluation of all shortcomings associated with insufficiently developed technological solutions, we propose for the present time to concentrate the engineers, designers and technologist’s efforts on the support of methane gas, as an alternative to aviation kerosene
The International Civil Aviation Organization is focused on ecology and has formulated a target to reduce environmental emissions of CO2 by 75% and NO, NO2 by 90% from 2000 to 2050

Summary

Introduction

In the 21st century, the problems of the ecology triggered by aviation transport were identified as priory. According to these requirements, the International Civil Aviation Organization must provide a CO2 certification for each aircraft depending on the fuel efficiency criteria. The aircraft engine starting, switching to the nominal operating mode, stable operation of all systems, emergency termination of tests and the transition from kerosene to hydrogen or natural gas were performed. They showed the prospects for hydrogen in civil aviation. The Tu-155 aircraft project was launched in the USSR in 1988 and confirmed the replacing kerosene fuel with liquid hydrogen possibility. The functioning aircraft engines experimental models at the level of 50-60-year-old technologies have shown that the cryogenic fuels in civil aviation use is quite possible.

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