IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i6p3282-d518055.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Innovative Box-Wing Aircraft: Emissions and Climate Change

Author

Listed:
  • Andrea Luca Tasca

    (Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering, University of Pisa, Largo Lucio Lazzarino, 56122 Pisa, Italy)

  • Vittorio Cipolla

    (Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering, University of Pisa, Largo Lucio Lazzarino, 56122 Pisa, Italy)

  • Karim Abu Salem

    (Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering, University of Pisa, Largo Lucio Lazzarino, 56122 Pisa, Italy)

  • Monica Puccini

    (Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering, University of Pisa, Largo Lucio Lazzarino, 56122 Pisa, Italy)

Abstract

The PARSIFAL project (Prandtlplane ARchitecture for the Sustainable Improvement of Future AirpLanes) aims to promote an innovative box-wing aircraft: the PrandtlPlane. Aircraft developed adopting this configuration are expected to achieve a payload capability higher than common single aisle analogues (e.g., Airbus 320 and Boeing 737 families), without any increase in the overall dimensions. We estimated the exhaust emissions from the PrandtlPlane and compared the corresponding impacts to those of a conventional reference aircraft, in terms of Global Warming Potential (GWP) and Global Temperature Potential (GTP), on two time-horizons and accounted for regional sensitivity. We considered carbon dioxide, carbonaceous and sulphate aerosols, nitrogen oxides and related ozone production, methane degradation and nitrate aerosols formation, contrails, and contrail cirrus. Overall, the introduction of the PrandtlPlane is expected to bring a considerable reduction of climate change in all the source regions considered, on both the time-horizons examined. Moreover, fuel consumption is expected to be reduced by 20%, as confirmed through high-fidelity Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) simulations. Sensitivity of data, models, and metrics are detailed. Impact reduction and mitigation strategies are discussed, as well as the gaps to be addressed in order to develop a comprehensive Life Cycle Assessment on aircraft emissions.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrea Luca Tasca & Vittorio Cipolla & Karim Abu Salem & Monica Puccini, 2021. "Innovative Box-Wing Aircraft: Emissions and Climate Change," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-25, March.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:6:p:3282-:d:518055
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/6/3282/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/6/3282/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anger, Annela & Köhler, Jonathan, 2010. "Including aviation emissions in the EU ETS: Much ado about nothing? A review," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 38-46, January.
    2. Rosskopf, Michael & Lehner, Stephan & Gollnick, Volker, 2014. "Economic–environmental trade-offs in long-term airline fleet planning," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 109-115.
    3. Scheelhaase, Janina D., 2019. "How to regulate aviation's full climate impact as intended by the EU council from 2020 onwards," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 75(C), pages 68-74.
    4. Giuseppe Buttazzo & Aldo Frediani, 2009. "Variational Analysis and Aerospace Engineering," Springer Optimization and Its Applications, Springer, number 978-0-387-95857-6, June.
    5. Nordhaus, William, 1982. "How Fast Should We Graze the Global Commons?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 72(2), pages 242-246, May.
    6. Aldo Frediani & Vittorio Cipolla & Emanuele Rizzo, 2012. "The PrandtlPlane Configuration: Overview on Possible Applications to Civil Aviation," Springer Optimization and Its Applications, in: Giuseppe Buttazzo & Aldo Frediani (ed.), Variational Analysis and Aerospace Engineering: Mathematical Challenges for Aerospace Design, edition 127, pages 179-210, Springer.
    7. Kyprianidis, Konstantinos G. & Dahlquist, Erik, 2017. "On the trade-off between aviation NOx and energy efficiency," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 185(P2), pages 1506-1516.
    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. Csereklyei, Zsuzsanna & Stern, David I., 2020. "Flying More Efficiently: Joint Impacts of Fuel Prices, Capital Costs and Fleet Size on Airline Fleet Fuel Economy," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 175(C).
    2. Scheelhaase, Janina & Maertens, Sven & Grimme, Wolfgang & Jung, Martin, 2018. "EU ETS versus CORSIA – A critical assessment of two approaches to limit air transport's CO2 emissions by market-based measures," Journal of Air Transport Management, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 55-62.
    3. Pérez-Calderón, Esteban & Milanés-Montero, Patricia & Gutíerrez-Pérez, Cristina, 2021. "Climate change, where do we come from and where are we going? European aviation sector behaviour," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 40-48.
    4. Md Arif Hasan & Abdullah Al Mamun & Syed Masiur Rahman & Karim Malik & Md. Iqram Uddin Al Amran & Abu Nasser Khondaker & Omer Reshi & Surya Prakash Tiwari & Fahad Saleh Alismail, 2021. "Climate Change Mitigation Pathways for the Aviation Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-29, March.
    5. Hermeling, Claudia & Klement, Jan Henrik & Koesler, Simon & Köhler, Jonathan & Klement, Dorothee, 2015. "Sailing into a dilemma," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 34-53.
    6. Smulders, Sjak & Gradus, Raymond, 1996. "Pollution abatement and long-term growth," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 12(3), pages 505-532, November.
    7. Sven Maertens & Wolfgang Grimme & Janina Scheelhaase & Martin Jung, 2019. "Options to Continue the EU ETS for Aviation in a CORSIA-World," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(20), pages 1-19, October.
    8. Stavins, Robert & Hahn, Robert & Cavanagh, Sheila, 2001. "National Environmental Policy During the Clinton Years," RFF Working Paper Series dp-01-38, Resources for the Future.
    9. D’Alfonso, Tiziana & Jiang, Changmin & Bracaglia, Valentina, 2016. "Air transport and high-speed rail competition: Environmental implications and mitigation strategies," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 92(C), pages 261-276.
    10. Agliardi, Elettra & Xepapadeas, Anastasios, 2022. "Temperature targets, deep uncertainty and extreme events in the design of optimal climate policy," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 139(C).
    11. Kazushi Hatase & Shunsuke Managi, 2015. "Increase in carbon prices: analysis of energy-economy modeling," Environmental Economics and Policy Studies, Springer;Society for Environmental Economics and Policy Studies - SEEPS, vol. 17(2), pages 241-262, April.
    12. Armin Ibitz, 2015. "Towards a global scheme for carbon emissions reduction in aviation: China’s role in blocking the extension of the European Union’s Emissions Trading Scheme," Asia Europe Journal, Springer, vol. 13(2), pages 113-130, June.
    13. Clewlow, Regina R. & Sussman, Joseph M. & Balakrishnan, Hamsa, 2014. "The impact of high-speed rail and low-cost carriers on European air passenger traffic," Transport Policy, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 136-143.
    14. Yiqing Su & Yanyan Li & Yanggui Liu, 2022. "Common Demand vs. Limited Supply—How to Serve the Global Fight against COVID-19 through Proper Supply of COVID-19 Vaccines," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(3), pages 1-13, January.
    15. Tol, Richard S.J., 2024. "A meta-analysis of the total economic impact of climate change," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 185(C).
    16. Rick Van der Ploeg & Armon Rezai, 2018. "Climate Policy and Stranded Carbon Assets: A Financial Perspective," OxCarre Working Papers 206, Oxford Centre for the Analysis of Resource Rich Economies, University of Oxford.
    17. Luciano Demasi & Giovanni Monegato & Antonio Dipace & Rauno Cavallaro, 2016. "Minimum Induced Drag Theorems for Joined Wings, Closed Systems, and Generic Biwings: Theory," Journal of Optimization Theory and Applications, Springer, vol. 169(1), pages 200-235, April.
    18. Richard S.J. Tol, 2021. "Estimates of the social cost of carbon have not changed over time," Working Paper Series 0821, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    19. Anping Chen & Nicolaas Groenewold, 2014. "The regional economic effects of a reduction in carbon emissions and an evaluation of offsetting policies in China," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 93(2), pages 429-453, June.
    20. Catton, Will, 2009. "Dynamic carbon caps. Splitting the bill: A fairer solution post-Kyoto?," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(12), pages 5636-5649, December.

    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:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:6:p:3282-:d:518055. 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.