Story ID: 382
Rolls-Royce Details Hydrogen Program Progress
By: Peter Shaw-Smith
Caption: Engine manufacturer Rolls-Royce is developing hydrogen and hybrid-electric power solutions.
Word Count: 395
Rolls-Royce has made further progress in hydrogen power and continues research into hybrid-electric technology as it works to develop new ways to maximize sustainability in aviation.

The firm plans a series of rig and engine tests to prove that 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel “can safely and efficiently deliver power for small-mid size aircraft from the mid-2030s onwards,” it said. “We have further ambitions to move this on to a flight test phase as part of the program in the long term,” it added.

Rolls-Royce has already carried out several hydrogen combustion tests along with Loughborough University, German research institute DLR, and Cranfield University. Plans call for two ground tests to take place on a Rolls-Royce AE 2100 turbine engine in the UK this year and with a Rolls-Royce Pearl 15 jet engine in the near future. The company is considering a range of locations for the trials,  including its test facility in Mississippi.

The London, UK-headquartered company, which has divisions in civil aerospace, defense, power systems, and electrical, said it closely followed market research carried out by the UK Aerospace Technology Institute’s Fly Zero team and Project Napkin (New Aviation Propulsion Knowledge and Innovation Network). Both organizations concluded the existence of market potential for hydrogen-powered aircraft.

Rolls-Royce is also working with EasyJet on hydrogen infrastructure, as well as Norway-based regional airline Widerøe and Brazilian OEM Embraer, on hybrid-electric and hydrogen power systems for a regional aircraft research project already underway.

Tests in Bristol, UK, and Trondheim, Norway, have confirmed that Rolls-Royce’s Power Generation System 1 (PGS1) demonstrator, which incorporates an AE 2100 engine and special controls and thermal management systems, delivered more than 1.5 megawatts of power. “This is the first time this has been achieved in the aviation sector,” the firm said. As a result, Rolls-Royce is considering how it could achieve a production version of PGS1 and discussing airframers’ future requirements for such a propulsion system.

“We are pioneers of power and this program puts us in a great position to pave the way to make hydrogen and hybrid-electric systems a reality,” said Chris Cholerton, president, civil aerospace. “Combined with our work on sustainable aviation fuel and further gas turbine efficiency, we are making real progress on the hard yards of research and development towards making net-zero flight a reality.”