With Aviation Turbine Fuel prices skyrocketing and calls for fewer emissions getting louder, there could be a significant shift in how commercial aircraft will look in the not-so-distant future. In the pursuit of cutting down emissions, the world’s largest aerospace engine manufacturer Safran is aiming to be carbon neutral for aviation industry by 2050.
The future aircraft would feature fan blades twice as large as they are today and open fan engines fixed on upper wings or back of airframe to be more fuel efficient and make lower emissions. It may be noted that the present generation of aircraft engines are 15 per cent more fuel efficient than their predecessors.
Aircraft with 30% fuel saving
French MNC Safran is looking to manufacture aircraft that could lead to 30 per cent fuel saving. “At four metres, the blades (of the next gen engines) would be double the two-metre diametre of the current LEAP engines and be open fan. This engine will require a new plane. That will be the decision of airframes, Airbus and Boeing,” Safran Global CEO and director Olivier Andriès, told TOI.
Giving a sneak peek into the future, the 60-year-old said that may be the next gen plane will require an upper wing or engine may be behind. We believe the airframe can bring an additional 10 per cent. A combination of the two (20 per cent engine tech and 10 per cent airframe design) could lead to 30 per cent fuel saving.
Sharing that the current generation of aircraft engines are bringing 15 per cent fuel efficiency, Andriès shared that they are all aiming to be carbon neutral for aviation industry by 2050. “It’s a very ambitious target.”
How will they get there?
He said by working on technologies for aircraft frugality. Together with GE, we had decided in June 2020 into a disruptive technology programme, a disruptive architecture that could bring 20 per cent fuel saving by 2035. We need time to demonstrate the technology not only on ground, but in flight.
He added that the fuel for this engine will be “agnostic, meaning it would work with kerosene (jet fuel) and our aim is that it works with 100 per cent sustainable fuel.” It could (also) work with hydrogen if need be.
It would not look like the engine of today. It would be an open fan. At four metres, the diameter of the upcoming fan would be twice as big as the current two-metre diametre LEAP engine fan. A big, big, big fan. And open, so no casing,” Andriès explained.
He shared that it be like the current turbojet engines but “rotating fast”, thus, bringing about “propulsive efficiency” leading to fuel saving. “Our view is that it has to be complemented by a very strong push on sustainable fuel. With sustainable fuel you basically recycle carbon dioxide (CO2) and therefore you don’t emit more CO2,” the aviation veteran explained.
The first step is going to be bio fuels with which we can save up to 80 per cent emissions. But bio fuel (generation) should not compete with food requirement and will have to be generated from waste. The next step should be synthetic fuel.
We have engaged in a partnership with French energy major Total. They have announced a very big strategic partnership with Adani Group in India. We are urging Total and everybody to move up the production capacity of sustainable fuel.
“Should one day I meet Mr (Gautam) Adani, I would tell him that that he should go into sustainable and synthetic fuels,” Andriès said.
Liquid hydrogen as fuel
The French company is not a fan of Liquid hydrogen for two reasons – it requires four times more volume than kerosene. It simply cannot be a solution for long hauls as it would require big tanks. Long range accounts for 20 per cent flights worldwide but 50 per cent of airline revenue, Andriès noted.
The second hurdle is the need for all airports worldwide to be equipped with infrastructure to fill planes with liquid hydrogen. “It’s a huge investment to imagine that all airports in the world will build cryogenic infrastructure to feed aircraft,” he highlighted.
Electric planes?
Electric will be a solution for small, regional aircraft and urban air mobility, however, the difficulty with electric is the weight of batteries. “In aerospace our biggest enemy is weight,” Andriès said.
