Project description
Hydrogen-electric propulsion targets climate-neutral aviation
Aviation is a major contributor to global emissions, with current propulsion systems relying on fossil fuels that produce significant CO2 and NOx emissions. Reducing the climate impact of aviation is critical, especially as demand for air travel continues to grow. Conventional technologies cannot meet the European Green Deal’s target of climate-neutral aviation by 2050. A disruptive, zero-emission solution is needed to achieve this goal. With this in mind, the EU-funded HEROPS project aims to address this challenge by developing MTU’s Flying Fuel Cell (FFC) propulsion system. Using hydrogen-electric propulsion, HEROPS will power aircraft with fuel cells and liquid hydrogen, targeting commercial readiness by 2035, with significant reductions in aviation’s environmental footprint.
Objective
HEROPS aims to introduce climate-neutral propulsion into regional aircraft by developing MTU’s Flying Fuel Cell (FFC) propulsion system concept for entry into service in 2035. This disruptive hydrogen-electric propulsion system uses fuel cells as sole power source and a liquid hydrogen fuel system, without the need for high-power batteries. Integration of both the fuel cell system and the electric propulsion unit into a compact engine nacelle will ensure an efficient system at high power-to-weight ratio.
HEROPS targets to demonstrate a 1,2 MW propulsion system based on a scalable 600 kW core module at TRL4. The core module and all further sub-systems will be validated up to TRL5. Complemented by simulation and electrical network testing of the overall modularised system, scalability to the 2 – 4 MW power level will be confirmed. The certification programme will build upon on-going certification activities, enabling timely maturation of the aviation-native HEROPS technology against relevant certification requirements.
The two-phase approach of the overall programme - including extensive development, test and validation cycles at each stage - is expected to advance the FFC concept to TRL6 for integration and demonstration on a regional aircraft by 2028. It will pave the way for commercial prototyping and entry-into-service by 2035, delivering a key propulsion technology to reach the European Green Deal’s objective of climate-neutral aviation by 2050 with 100% prevention of CO2 and NOx emissions and up to 80% reduction of the climate impact from contrails and contrail cirrus.
The HEROPS project will meet this challenge with a European consortium of aircraft propulsion system integrators, electrical system experts, key tier 1 suppliers and leading researchers in stack technology, mechanics and propulsion, leveraging relevant and effective synergies between European and national programmes.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques.
- engineering and technologymechanical engineeringvehicle engineeringaerospace engineeringaircraft
- natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesartificial intelligenceexpert systems
- engineering and technologyenvironmental engineeringenergy and fuels
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Funding Scheme
HORIZON-JU-IA - HORIZON JU Innovation ActionsCoordinator
80995 Munchen
Germany