Sustainable Aviation: Is It Possible?

Thomas Cheney

BC SEA WEBINAR

April 24th, 2012

CBC Photo

Acknowledgements

• Firstly my supervisor, Dr Balbinder Deo

• Dr. Ken Wilkening and Alex Schare, PHD student for sharing information on GHG mitigation in aviation

• Dr Art Fredeen (NRES 720) and Dr Theresa Healy for offering class projects that allowed me to examine aviation related issue

• And my late Grandfather Leonard Cartmell for starting my interest in aviation

Flight has intrigued us for a long time

thepomegranateblog.wordpress.com

circlinghawk.com

Birds fly

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c7/Mute_swan_flies_arp.jpg/300px-Mute_swan_flies_arp.jpg

Bees as well

honeybee.matatelinga.net

And Butterflies

Bats too!

Humans can too

Rocket assisted B-47B in the 1950s

But we need Dinosaur goo

http://www.dinosaurusi.com/en/post/256/flying-dinosaurs-archeopteryx

http://www.valdezlink.com

Which creates problems

http://edwardcheever.wordpress.com/tag/global-warming/

A healthy planet is needed to give wings

to future generations

Aviation and Climate Change

Dallara (2011)

5% of total anthropogenic climate forcing

Aviation is growing at 5% per year

Demand Growth > Efficiency Improvements

You can’t buy an electric jet!

Nissan Leaf … does not fly!

pinebeltautoblog.com

Photo: David Monniaux

Must drink Dinosaur Goo?

No easy fuel switching to ZEV for aviation

So what can be done?

ideevan.com

There are solutions

• Cutting fuel use

• Reducing non-carbon emissions

• Switching to low carbon fuels

– Hydrogen

– biofuels

Fuel consumption in Jets have decreased by 70%

Slide: http://aa.stanford.edu/events/50thAnniversary/media/Kroo.pdf

Turboprops

From: http://www.atraircraft.com/media/downloads/brochure%20ECO_light.pdf

Bombardier Q400

667 Km\h cruising @ 24,000 ft Time Competitive with jets on sectors of 300 NM 30-40% fuel savings

Source: http://q400nextgen.com/

787 “Dreamliner”

20% less fuel than comparable aircraft

Propfans

• Examined in the wake of the oil crisis

• 30% fuel saving over comparable turbofan

• Speeds of Mach 0.80

– Similar to current jets

http://www.airspacemag.com/history-of-flight/prop-fan.html

Cargo Propfan Antonov An-70

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:An-70_takeoff.jpg

Operational Changes

Single European Sky

• Many flight follow less than direct routing

• 10% fuel savings

• Improved safety

http://www.euractiv.com/transport/single-european-sky-greener-air-travel/article-173593

http://presse.lufthansa.com/typo3temp/pics/2d5f297591.jpg

Continuous Descent Approach

Save up to 200 Gallons per landing

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/02/090203091356.htm

Learn from the Geese

We can flock up on climate change

• Formation flight (3-5) miles apart would lower fuel use by 12%

Stanford University Image

Aerial refueling

30%-40% net fuel savings Safe, often used by US President on Air Force 1

Commercialization occurring by Range International

http://www.range-unlimited.com

Future Concepts

GE/NASA Photo

Sugar Volt

• Battery-Kerosene Hybrid “H-fan” Engine

• 1 Kwh/Kg battery energy density needed

• For short hauls 900 Knots nm

– (70% less fuel)

MIT/ NASA Image

Source: http://aviationweek.typepad.com/files/mit_n3_final_presentation.pdf

All-electric voltair

• 25 years ahead? From EADS (Airbus) • Supersonic • Laminar flow over 60% of body • Swapable, Lithium-air batteries

www.eads.com/dms/eads/int/.../EADS-Brochure_VoltAir_English.pdf

Double Bubble (NASA/MIT)

• 180 passenger aircraft (like Boeing 737) • 70% less fuel use with 10% lower speed than current jets • Rear ultra-high bypass engines with boundary-layer ingestion • Lightweight composite construction with fuselage providing lift

Info from: http://aviationweek.typepad.com/files/mit_n3_final_presentation.pdf

Blended Wing Body

• 20-30% fuel savings over comparable tube and wing • Low noise due to aircraft shielding the ground

photo: http://static.rcgroups.net/forums/attachments/1/6/9/4/3/1/a2373943-173-blended-wing-body-aircraft.jpg?d=1235958892

Solar Powered Helios Airships

45 MPH + 96 MPH average jet stream = 151 Mph 120,000 Lbs of cargo at 36,000 feet Solar Powered

www.solarairship.net

Turtle Airships

• Rigid SHELLED Lighter-than-Air,

• >200mph

• SOLAR POWERED with Bio-fuel backup power

http://cleantechnica.com/2009/07/28/solar-blimp-to-fly-from-nyc-to-paris-rests-on-land-or-water/

Non-Carbon Dioxide Forcings

• Because the airplanes emit large quantities of non-carbon dioxide emissions, shifting to a low carbon fuel will not be enough to aviation’s climate footprint.

http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/autopia/2009/05/bacontrail.jpg

Flying Low is Good!

Image: Klug 1996 in Dallara 2011

Contrail impact increases with altitude

Turboprop Cruising altitude

Typical long-range jet cruising altitude

AIC equals contrails

60% less GHG impact for 2% cost increase

Dallara 2011 Figure 6.13:.

Fuel Switching

Biofuel and Hydrogen…Electricity Maybe ~55 of aviation climate impact from CO2

Biodiesel-like fuels

• Based on oils

– Only 11 EJ if all food crops were converted to biofuels (Field et al, 2008)

IATA 2011

Photo: phrenewablepowernews.com

Hydrogen Aircraft

• Needs new aircraft to account for bulky fuel • H2 aircraft could lead to forty-fold reduction in

climate impact - Greener by Design

LanzaTech

• Carbon rich gases to ethanol and than to jet fuels

• 60% efficiency – >80% GHG reduction relative to petroleum gasoline based on waste biomass

Alcohol Mixture

Gas Reception Fermentation Recovery Chemical Synthesis Rectification Diesel Jet Gasoline

* Gas Feed Stream

15% 15% 35%

alternativematters.files.wordpress.com/.../lanzatech-presentation.pptx

Fisher Tropsch Process

• Abundant non-food feedstocks • FT is a mature technology • Economic at $100+ barrel oil (sims et al, 20080 • Plant under construction by Renetech in Ontaro • 120 EJ of biomass feedstock needed

From Boerrigter, 2006

Environmental Performance

• Environmental and energetic shipping assessed by Van Vilet et al 2009

• Negative emissions possible with CCS

Is there enough Biomass?

WWF\ECOFYS 2011

Feedstock Needed for Aviation Fuel Demand

Comparison of Global Agricultural Productivity

From: http://i243.photobucket.com/albums/ff314/biopact4/biopact_maize_rice_yields.jpg?t=1204495147

Stretching the Biomass Supply

• Solar heating of biomass allows for much more of the carbon to go into the fuel

– Reduces feedstock requirements by 2/3rds (Hertwich and Zhang, 2009)

– Would need 50 EJ of biomass feedstock

Photo: samefacts.com

Conclusions

• Supply issues with first-generation bio-jet fuels from oils

• F-T fuels capable of providing drop-in biofuels that can dramatically reduce CO2e for existing aircraft

• Large scale potential for mitigating non-carbon dioxide forcings

• Hydrogen is an interesting long-term alternative.

The End

Photo: tokyotopia.com

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