Ecodesign of Innovative Hydrogen Storage for Aviation made in Composite Materials
Topic(s) : Life cycle performance
Co-authors :
Andrea PETTERSEN HELÅSEN (NORWAY), Angela Daniela ANGELA DANIELA LA ROSA , Sotirios GRAMMATIKOS (NORWAY)Abstract :
Today, aviation accounts to approximately 2.5% of the global CO2 emissions, or 3.5% of effective radiative forcing. However, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has extrapolated the current growth, and the green house gas (GHG) emissions are expected to increase by a factor of two to four times by 2050. ICAO has a goal of reducing fuel consumption by 2% every year, working towards a net zero emission goal. Due to this, new concepts of battery and hydrogen fueled airplanes have appeared, and Airbus have announced plans to have a net-zero aircraft using hydrogen fuel cells by 2035.
In this study, the sustainability of a composite tank for liquid hydrogen fuel for aviation, designed within the EU project H2ELIOS, is conducted by means of the life cycle (LCA) method. The focus is on the materials selection and a comparison between two possible designs. The tank will have the shape of a hollow ovoid (3D oval), consisting of four layers. The innermost layer is an inner tank made of a carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic. The second layer is an insulation layer of open cell foam. The difference between the two designs lies in the order of the two outermost layers. In the first design, the third layers consist of an insulation layer of closed cell foam on the outside of the open cell foam, with an outer tank of carbon reinforced thermoset as the fourth and final layer. For the second design, these layers will switch places, meaning the outer tank will be on the outside of the open cell foam as the third layer, with the closed cell foam being the outermost layer.
The LCA study aims to highlight the environmental hotspots of the materials and display how design choice can affect the environmental impact on the same functional unit. The system boundaries are from the extraction of raw materials to the manufacturing of the finished tank prototype. SimaPro and Ecoinvent database are used for the analysis, and both midpoint and endpoint categories are evaluated. Several different impact categories are discussed with emphasis to the global warming potential (GWP).
Acknowledgement
The project H2ELIOS is supported by the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking and its members. Funded by the European Union. However, views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
In this study, the sustainability of a composite tank for liquid hydrogen fuel for aviation, designed within the EU project H2ELIOS, is conducted by means of the life cycle (LCA) method. The focus is on the materials selection and a comparison between two possible designs. The tank will have the shape of a hollow ovoid (3D oval), consisting of four layers. The innermost layer is an inner tank made of a carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic. The second layer is an insulation layer of open cell foam. The difference between the two designs lies in the order of the two outermost layers. In the first design, the third layers consist of an insulation layer of closed cell foam on the outside of the open cell foam, with an outer tank of carbon reinforced thermoset as the fourth and final layer. For the second design, these layers will switch places, meaning the outer tank will be on the outside of the open cell foam as the third layer, with the closed cell foam being the outermost layer.
The LCA study aims to highlight the environmental hotspots of the materials and display how design choice can affect the environmental impact on the same functional unit. The system boundaries are from the extraction of raw materials to the manufacturing of the finished tank prototype. SimaPro and Ecoinvent database are used for the analysis, and both midpoint and endpoint categories are evaluated. Several different impact categories are discussed with emphasis to the global warming potential (GWP).
Acknowledgement
The project H2ELIOS is supported by the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking and its members. Funded by the European Union. However, views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.