GE Aerospace has received a $4.5 million grant from the Advanced Research Projects Agency–Energy (ARPA-E) to develop a small prototype engine that will combine fuel cells with the use of a gas turbine powered by sustainable aviation fuel (SAF).
The project is Phase 2 of the engine maker’s FLyCLEEN program. According to GE's engineers, the use of solid oxide fuel cells in the 25kW hybrid-electric unit “could vastly improve the efficiency of converting the chemical energy from SAF into electric power and move closer to net-zero CO2 emissions.”
John Hong, a senior combustion research engineer with GE and its FLyCLEEN project leader, said this design brings nearly two decades of solid oxide fuel cell experience to bear in the design of the high-efficiency power generation system. In the hybrid engine, a portion of the SAF is reformed into syngas to feed the fuel cells, while the remainder is burned in the gas turbine.
“The integration of fuel cells into a jet engine propulsion system represents a potentially promising hybrid technology for additional fuel efficiency technologies in higher-thrust aircraft applications,” Hong stated. “The use of SAF demonstrates the compatibility with lower-carbon fuels to capture further CO2 reduction benefits.”