A liquid hydrogen-fuelled gas turbine engine suitable for the light aviation market has reportedly been successfully tested and validated by Air Liquide, Turbotech and Safran.
The three companies conducted tests at Air Liquide’s Grenoble Technologies Campus in France last September, completing a ground demonstration testing of the aeroengine based on an ultra-efficient regenerative cycle and fed from a liquid hydrogen tank.
This followed a demonstration test in January 2024 as part of the BeautHyFuel project, designed to explore hydrogen propulsion solutions for light aircraft. An initial engine qualification test campaign was undertaken at ArianeGroup’s French site in Vernon.
Here, hydrogen fuel was stored in gaseous form to perform an initial characterisation of the engine, before the engine was coupled to a cryogenic liquid storage system supplied by Air Liquide to showcase the end-to-end integration of a propulsion system, replicating all functions on a complete aircraft.
“This is a major step forward in the transition to fully decarbonised aircraft propulsion, which will be ready to fly as soon as the world mass-produces green hydrogen,” claimed Damien Fauvet, CEO of Turbotech.
“The aim of this work was to achieve a similar energy density to a conventional Avgas or Jet A-1 fuel system, while taking account of the constraints associated with the retrofit, operability and certification of a cryogenic hydrogen propulsion solution.”
Pierre-Alain Lambert, Vice-President of Hydrogen Programs at Safran, also stated that the second stage “marks the successful culmination of the project.”
Lambert said, “By coupling our technology to Air Liquide’s cryogenic storage system, which provides the energy density needed for aircraft applications, we’ve demonstrated that a complete high-tech propulsion solution with zero carbon emissions in flight is possible and that it can be directly integrated into light aircraft.”
The initiative was supported by the French Civil Aviation Authority (DGAC) as part of the country’s post-Covid stimulus programme.
