According to foreign media New Atlas, Reaction Engines and the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) have completed a conceptual study on the practicality of using ammonia as jet aviation fuel. By combining Reaction Engines' heat exchanger technology with STFC's advanced catalysts, they hope to produce a sustainable, low-emission propulsion system for future aircraft.
Modern jet engines use various fuels based on kerosene. These fuels have extremely high energy density, which can propel aircraft to fly long distances and transport passengers and cargo around the world. Unfortunately, this fuel is also derived from fossil fuels, which will generate a lot of carbon dioxide emissions, and the aviation industry and many governments have pledged to completely reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 2050.
One way to achieve these reductions is to find alternatives to traditional jet fuel to power passenger aircraft. The problem is that most of these alternatives have a much lower energy density than standard aviation fuel and have other disadvantages. For example, today’s battery technology will require future aircraft to be very small, have a short range, and have a small payload capacity. At the same time, liquid hydrogen may be a viable alternative, but the amount of liquid hydrogen that needs to be carried is so much that the aircraft must be completely redesigned and new infrastructure built.
The idea of ​​using ammonia as aviation fuel is not new. Although its energy density is only one-third of that of diesel, it is relatively easy to liquefy and store, and has been used by the famous X-15 rocket aircraft to promote it in a series of suborbital missions in the 1950s and 1960s Into space. In addition, it contains no carbon.
The tricky part is to find an economically feasible way to use it in the aviation sector. To solve this problem, Reaction Engines produced a new propulsion system based on its heat exchanger technology developed for SABRE supersonic engines, which was then evaluated by STFC's Rutherford Appleton laboratory near Didcot, Oxfordshire.
In this new system, ammonia is stored in the aircraft wing as a frozen, pressurized liquid, just like today’s kerosene fuel. The ammonia is heated by the heat collected from the engine by the heat exchanger. The ammonia is extracted and sent to the chemical reactor. The catalyst decomposes part of the ammonia into hydrogen. The ammonia/hydrogen mixture is then fed into a jet engine, where it is burned like a conventional fuel, although the emissions are mainly nitrogen and water vapor.
According to Reaction Engines, the energy density of ammonia is high enough that the aircraft does not require major modifications and the engines can be modified in a relatively short period of time. Ground testing is underway, and the first flight may take place in a few years.
"The combination of Reaction Engines' transformative heat exchanger technology and STFC's innovative catalyst will make it possible to develop a game-changing green amino aviation propulsion system," said Dr. James Barth, Engineering Director of Reaction Engines. "Our research shows that jet engines fueled by ammonia can be retrofitted from existing engines, and that ammonia as a fuel does not require a complete rethinking of the design of civil aircraft as we know it today. This means It is possible to quickly transition to a sustainable aviation future at low cost; ammonia-powered aircraft can serve the world's short-haul routes before 2050."
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