Fuels systems and components for future airliners fuelled with liquid hydrogen

Abstract

Abstract The prospect of using liquid hydrogen as fuel in airliners in place of kerosene-based fuels is regarded as one of the most effective solutions to achieve low-carbon air transport in the near future, which is a target defined by the EU to reduce global warming caused by CO2 emissions. The development of hydrogen-fuelled airliners must face issues related to the production and supply chain of green hydrogen, to the fuel systems for hydrogen handling aboard aircraft, and to the combustion of hydrogen. This paper is concerned with the literature study of fuel systems for hydrogen, keeping in mind that the other two aspects are currently being studied extensively in industries and universities. This paper analyses difficulties, proposals and advances related to the four main parts composing future fuel systems for hydrogen-fuelled airliners: fuel storage, fuel delivery, thermal management and fuel metering.