Project description
Liquid hydrogen-powered aircraft: refuelling, ground operations and standardisation
Hydrogen-powered aeroplanes could make a substantial contribution to Europe’s goal of carbon neutrality by 2050. As with the challenges posed by hydrogen in other transport sectors, handling these aircraft will require essential changes to infrastructure and operational procedures. These include new liquid hydrogen refuelling equipment and adaptations to airport operations, ground handling operations and regulatory frameworks. The EU-funded GOLIAT project will develop essential technologies needed for large-scale, high-performance liquid-hydrogen refuelling and demonstrate small-scale liquid-hydrogen aircraft ground operations at three airports sites.The project will also address standardisation and certification aspects with a gap analysis of certification rules and requirements for ground operations and equipment. Finally, GOLIAT will assess hydrogen value chains for competitive hydrogen-powered aviation.
Objective
Developing aircraft using hydrogen is seen as a major lever to reach net-zero CO2 emissions by 2050 and to secure the long-term sustainability of air travel. In order to enable a widespread development of hydrogen aviation, it is essential for airport operators that a future regulatory framework is implemented for the handling of large quantities of hydrogen at airports and that there is a clear understanding of how hydrogen-powered aircraft will be integrated into airport operations and the required changes to current aircraft ground handling operations are known.
In parallel to this, and for industrial partners, it is also necessary to develop new ground-handling equipment for hydrogen aircraft, and more specifically liquid hydrogen refuelling equipment that will enable safe and efficient turn-around operations. GOLIAT will demonstrate liquid hydrogen aircraft ground operations at three different types of European airports using a small hydrogen operated aircraft allowing the necessary procedures to be developed. It will also, through two demonstrators, showcase several critical technologies needed for future certified high-performance liquid hydrogen refuelling.
In parallel, GOLIAT will answer key questions that will lay the foundations for the standardisation and certification framework of future safe hydrogen operations. Indeed, a key output of the project will be the gap analysis of certification rules and requirements for ground operations and equipment.
Finally, GOLIAT will also assess the sizing and economics of hydrogen value chains for airports, critical for the competitive development of hydrogen powered aviation.
To achieve its goals, GOLIAT reunites technology providers (aircraft manufacturers, liquid hydrogen suppliers, logistics experts, cryogenic component manufacturers and standardisation experts) and academia as well as several European airport operators all of whom will be supported by EASA.
Fields of science
- social scienceseconomics and businesseconomics
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringaerospace engineeringaircraft
- engineering and technologycivil engineeringtransportation engineeringairport engineering
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuelsrenewable energyhydrogen energy
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-IA - HORIZON Innovation ActionsCoordinator
31700 Blagnac
France