A European consortium will bolt a hydrogen-burning combustion system onto a modern jet engine and run it on a test stand, aiming to prove that a commercial airliner can fly without carbon emissions. Aviation produces a significant share of global CO₂, and today’s jet fuel has no clean alternative that works at scale. Hydrogen burns to water vapour, but storing it as a cryogenic liquid and burning it safely inside a turbofan presents major engineering challenges that no one has yet solved for a mass-transport aircraft. CAVENDISH directly tackles those unknowns by building and ground-testing a full hydrogen combustion system on a latest-generation engine, then working with airframers and certification bodies to map a path to a permit to fly. If the ground tests succeed, the project will produce the first minimum viable product of a liquid-hydrogen-burning aeroengine in Europe. That hardware and the certification framework that comes with it would underpin in-flight demonstrations and, ultimately, entry into service of commercial hydrogen-fuelled aircraft. The project also explores a dual-fuel combustor that can switch between hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuel, and a cryo-compressed tank system, giving airlines flexibility during the transition.
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In line with the European Green Deal target of reaching carbon neutrality in the aviation industry by 2050, breakthrough technologies related to direct (100% hydrogen) combustion systems will be researched, prototyped and integrated onto a modern donor aeroengine for ground testing (starting in late 2024) in Project CAVENDISH. This aeroengine test on hydrogen with a latest generation turbofan, will be a first of a kind in Europe and the cornerstone to further in-flight demonstration, eventually leading to product development aimed at meeting Europe’s and the industry’s ambition for the entry in service (EIS) of commercial, mass-transport, hydrogen-fuelled aircraft in 2035. CAVENDISH’s second objective will be to work on system and powerplant aircraft integration with several established airframers and a supplemental type certificate organisation to define certification pathways and formulate a route to permit to fly. This activity will directly benefit the flight test of the donor engine scheduled for the next phase of the Clean Aviation programme. CAVENDISH will also explore alternative enabling technologies in the form of a dual fuel combustor system (capable of operating on 100% hydrogen and 100% SAF) and in the form of a cryo-compressed tank system. Both these technologies will offer flexibility and could ease the introduction of hydrogen in aviation. CAVENDISH brings together expertise-leading European organizations in aeronautics, power and propulsion, combustion, fuel and controls systems and aircraft. It builds on multiple national technology programmes heralding from the UK, Germany, France and the Netherlands, and is in effect the marriage and acceleration of these technology pathways into an early demonstration and a first minimum viable product (MVP) of a liquid hydrogen combusting aeroengine. The project is also connected to activities in other Clean Aviation calls, on SMR and Certification activities specifically, notably project proposals HEAVEN and CONCERTO.
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