IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v17y2024i13p3272-d1428356.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Energy Consumption and Saved Emissions of a Hydrogen Power System for Ultralight Aviation: A Case Study

Author

Listed:
  • Teresa Donateo

    (Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, Via per Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy)

  • Andrea Graziano Bonatesta

    (Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, Via per Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy)

  • Antonio Ficarella

    (Department of Engineering for Innovation, University of Salento, Via per Monteroni, 73100 Lecce, Italy)

  • Leonardo Lecce

    (Novotech Aerospace Advanced Technology S.R.L., Strada Provinciale 143 KM. 2, 74020 Avetrana, Italy)

Abstract

The growing concern about climate change and the contemporary increase in mobility requirements call for faster, cheaper, safer, and cleaner means of transportation. The retrofitting of fossil-fueled piston engine ultralight aerial vehicles to hydrogen power systems is an option recently proposed in this direction. The goal of this investigation is a comparative analysis of the environmental impact of conventional and hydrogen-based propulsive systems. As a case study, a hybrid electric configuration consisting of a fuel cell with a nominal power of about 30 kW, a 6 kWh LFP battery, and a pressurized hydrogen vessel is proposed to replace a piston prop configuration for an ultralight aerial vehicle. Both power systems are modeled with a backward approach that allows the efficiency of the main components to be evaluated based on the load and altitude at every moment of the flight with a time step of 1 s. A typical 90 min flight mission is considered for the comparative analysis, which is performed in terms of direct and indirect emissions of carbon dioxide, water, and pollutant substances. For the hydrogen-based configuration, two possible strategies are adopted for the use of the battery: charge sustaining and charge depleting. Moreover, the effect of the altitude on the parasitic power of the fuel cell compressor and, consequently, on the net efficiency of the fuel cell system is taken into account. The results showed that even if the use of hydrogen confines the direct environmental impact to the emission of water (in a similar quantity to the fossil fuel case), the indirect emissions associated with the production, transportation, and delivery of hydrogen and electricity compromise the desired achievement of pollutant-free propulsion in terms of equivalent emissions of CO 2 and VOCs if hydrogen is obtained from natural gas reforming. However, in the case of green hydrogen from electrolysis with wind energy, the total (direct and indirect) emissions of CO 2 can be reduced up to 1/5 of the fossil fuel case. The proposed configuration has the additional advantage of eliminating the problem of lead, which is used as an additive in the AVGAS 100LL.

Suggested Citation

  • Teresa Donateo & Andrea Graziano Bonatesta & Antonio Ficarella & Leonardo Lecce, 2024. "Energy Consumption and Saved Emissions of a Hydrogen Power System for Ultralight Aviation: A Case Study," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-24, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:13:p:3272-:d:1428356
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/13/3272/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/13/3272/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Scarlat, Nicolae & Prussi, Matteo & Padella, Monica, 2022. "Quantification of the carbon intensity of electricity produced and used in Europe," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    2. Jarod C. Kelly & Qiang Dai & Michael Wang, 2020. "Globally regional life cycle analysis of automotive lithium-ion nickel manganese cobalt batteries," Mitigation and Adaptation Strategies for Global Change, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 371-396, March.
    3. Zhou, Su & Fan, Lei & Zhang, Gang & Gao, Jianhua & Lu, Yanda & Zhao, Peng & Wen, Chaokai & Shi, Lin & Hu, Zhe, 2022. "A review on proton exchange membrane multi-stack fuel cell systems: architecture, performance, and power management," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 310(C).
    4. Donateo, Teresa & Spedicato, Luigi, 2017. "Fuel economy of hybrid electric flight," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 206(C), pages 723-738.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jānis Krūmiņš & Māris Kļaviņš, 2023. "Investigating the Potential of Nuclear Energy in Achieving a Carbon-Free Energy Future," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-31, April.
    2. Stephany Isabel Vallarta-Serrano & Ana Bricia Galindo-Muro & Riccardo Cespi & Rogelio Bustamante-Bello, 2023. "Analysis of GHG Emission from Cargo Vehicles in Megacities: The Case of the Metropolitan Zone of the Valley of Mexico," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-19, June.
    3. Sanghyun Yun & Jinwon Yun & Jaeyoung Han, 2023. "Development of a 470-Horsepower Fuel Cell–Battery Hybrid Xcient Dynamic Model Using Simscape TM," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(24), pages 1-22, December.
    4. Zuo, Jian & Cadet, Catherine & Li, Zhongliang & Bérenguer, Christophe & Outbib, Rachid, 2024. "A deterioration-aware energy management strategy for the lifetime improvement of a multi-stack fuel cell system subject to a random dynamic load," Reliability Engineering and System Safety, Elsevier, vol. 241(C).
    5. Lei Fan & Jianhua Gao & Yanda Lu & Wei Shen & Su Zhou, 2023. "Analysis of the Influence of Component Degradation on Different Degradation Indexes of PEMFC," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(23), pages 1-14, November.
    6. Alexandr Tsoy & Alexandr Granovskiy & Dmitriy Koretskiy & Diana Tsoy-Davis & Nikita Veselskiy & Mikhail Alechshenko & Alexandr Minayev & Inara Kim & Rita Jamasheva, 2023. "Experimental Study of the Heat Flow and Energy Consumption during Liquid Cooling Due to Radiative Heat Transfer in Winter," Energies, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-18, June.
    7. Wojciech Koznowski & Andrzej Łebkowski, 2022. "Unmanned Electric Tugboat Formation Multi-Agent Energy-Aware Control System Concept," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-23, December.
    8. Christian Aichberger & Gerfried Jungmeier, 2020. "Environmental Life Cycle Impacts of Automotive Batteries Based on a Literature Review," Energies, MDPI, vol. 13(23), pages 1-27, December.
    9. Małgorzata Pawlak & Michał Kuźniar, 2022. "The Effects of the Use of Algae and Jatropha Biofuels on Aircraft Engine Exhaust Emissions in Cruise Phase," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(11), pages 1-10, May.
    10. Toni Bogdanoff & Murat Tiryakioğlu & Tomas Liljenfors & Anders E. W. Jarfors & Salem Seifeddine & Ehsan Ghassemali, 2023. "On the Effectiveness of Rotary Degassing of Recycled Al-Si Alloy Melts: The Effect on Melt Quality and Energy Consumption for Melt Preparation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-10, March.
    11. Yang, Chao & Li, Zepeng & Wang, Yanfeng & Miao, He & Yuan, Jinliang, 2024. "Multiphysics analysis of flow uniformity and stack/manifold configuration in a kilowatt-class multistack solid oxide electrolysis cell module," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 307(C).
    12. Matteo Prussi & Lorenzo Laveneziana & Lorenzo Testa & David Chiaramonti, 2022. "Comparing e-Fuels and Electrification for Decarbonization of Heavy-Duty Transports," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(21), pages 1-17, October.
    13. Goldberg, C. & Nalianda, D. & Sethi, V. & Pilidis, P. & Singh, R. & Kyprianidis, K., 2018. "Assessment of an energy-efficient aircraft concept from a techno-economic perspective," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 229-238.
    14. Wang, Tao & Zhang, Yu & Yin, Zhao & Zhang, Hua-liang & Qian, Ye-jian, 2023. "Energy analysis and control scheme optimizations for a recuperated gas turbine with variable power offtakes/inputs," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 285(C).
    15. Koruyucu, Elif, 2019. "Energy and exergy analysis at different hybridization factors for hybrid electric propulsion light utility helicopter engine," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 189(C).
    16. Hao, Xinyang & Salhi, Issam & Laghrouche, Salah & Ait Amirat, Youcef & Djerdir, Abdesslem, 2023. "Multiple inputs multi-phase interleaved boost converter for fuel cell systems applications," Renewable Energy, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 521-531.
    17. Uyan, Eren, 2024. "Tecno-econo-enviro-social assessment of clean electrification for a marine equipment manufacturing plant in Türkiye through hybrid renewable energy system with demand response," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 304(C).
    18. Wang, Tao & Zhang, Yu & Yin, Zhao & Qiu, Liang & Hua, Yang & Zhang, Xian-wen & Qian, Ye-jian, 2023. "Decoupling control scheme optimization and energy analysis for a triaxial gas turbine based on the variable power offtakes/inputs," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 262(PB).
    19. Zhang, Jinning & Roumeliotis, Ioannis & Zolotas, Argyrios, 2022. "Model-based fully coupled propulsion-aerodynamics optimization for hybrid electric aircraft energy management strategy," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 245(C).
    20. Aljolani, Osama & Heberle, Florian & Brüggemann, Dieter, 2024. "Thermo-economic and environmental analysis of a CO2 residential air conditioning system in comparison to HFC-410A and HFC-32 in temperate and subtropical climates," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 353(PA).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:13:p:3272-:d:1428356. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.