Project kick-off

The consortium of Delft University of Technology, Chalmers University of Technology, Bauhaus Luftfahrt, Ergon Research, Hit09 Srl and The Manchester Metropolitan University has been awarded by #HorizonEurope with an overall budget of nearly 3.4 million euros to develop the technologies required for the transitional period. The project #HOPE (Hydrogen Optimized multi-fuel Propulsion system for clean and silEnt aircraft) has a duration of 48 months and will focus on improving local air quality and the abatement of noise emissions in the proximity of #airports, by developing two concepts for an aircraft which can partially fly on hydrogen, as and when available. HOPE will research an integrated #propulsion system for conventional tube/wing aircraft, consisting of two multi-fuel (#kerosene / #sustainableaviationfuel + #hydrogen) ultra-high bypass ratio turbofan engines, a hydrogen #fuelcell and a novel boundary-layer-ingesting (BLI) #electricpropulsor at the tail end of the fuselage, and aims to:

1) Minimize the combustion and noise #emissions during landing and takeoff (LTO) and on the ground, by switching to hydrogen-only operations and using only the electric propulsor in situations where emissions and noise matter most, without compromising efficiency in cruise 🔊

2) Modify an existing #aircraft configuration, allowing substantially shortened development time ✈️

3) De-risk the use of #hydrogen in aircraft configurations by introducing hydrogen technology as an “add-on” 🔥

4) Smooth aviation’s #energytransition through the assessment and exploitation of several greener propulsion technologies at different maturity levels 🌱

The new aircraft concept is expected to have a much-reduced impact on the airport environment: NOx: -50%, CO: -50%, soot: -80%, perceived noise: -20% (~3 dB per operation); and a considerably lower #climateimpact (-30%), than a state-of-the-art technology in 2020 (A320neo).

To make sure that the outcomes of the project find their way into actual aircraft, HOPE plans to demonstrate multi-fuel #combustion technology for hydrogen and kerosene/SAF for future turbofan engines. Another work package is devoted to assessing #societalimpact, environmental burden, and a cost/benefit analysis of the reduced noise and emissions by HOPE technology. Finally, the project will generate #policy recommendations to remove potential political and regulatory obstacles to the speedy adoption of the kind of technology developed within HOPE, which helps #aviation to transition away from fossil fuels and generally reduce its impact on the environment.

HOPE is funded under the Horizon Europe topic HORIZON-CL5-2022-D5-01-12 (Towards a silent and ultra-low local air pollution aircraft) under GA n° HOPE – GA n° 101096275. The support of the CINEA – European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency is gratefully acknowledged.

Link to the website of the project on the CORDIS portal: https://lnkd.in/drVt3xCS