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United Airlines has become the largest airline in the world to
invest in hydrogen-fueled electric engines that manufacturer
ZeroAvia is developing for regional aircraft that can carry fewer
than 100 passengers.
The Chicago-based airline's announcement came less than a
fortnight after it demonstrated that sustainable aviation fuels
made from woody waste and renewable feedstock can be used in
commercial airplanes without any operational problems.
Through a new equity stake in ZeroAvia, United said it had
agreed to a conditional purchase of 100 aircraft engines known as
ZA2000. These engines would be powered by 100% hydrogen fuel cells
and capable of producing between 2,000 and 5,000 kilowatts of power
with a 500-mile range.
Hydrogen-electric engines use electricity created by a chemical
reaction in a fuel cell to power an electric motor instead of
burning a fossil fuel. Because no fuel is burned, there are no
climate-harming emissions or carbon released into the atmosphere
when the engines operate.
United's aim is to retrofit its regional jet fleet with
ZeroAvia's hydrogen powertrains as early as 2028, placing it
squarely on its net-zero path. This includes plans to halve its carbon
intensity compared with 2019 by 2035.
Promising path to net-zero
"Hydrogen-electric engines are one of the most promising paths
to zero-emission air travel for smaller aircraft, and this
investment will keep United out in front on this important emerging
technology," Scott Kirby, CEO of United, said in a statement 13
December.
The aviation sector remains the largest source of unregulated
transportation CO2 releases at 12%. The US itself is the leading
GHG emitter from this source, responsible for a quarter of global
emissions from this sector.
Most of the United's fleet of more than 800 aircraft consist of
regional aircraft. As the regional branch of the United Airlines,
United Express runs six individually owned regional airlines that operate
more than 550 aircraft for short- and medium-haul feeder
flights.
The airline said it is determined to reach its net-zero goal
through use of sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and innovative
aircraft engine technology such as the one ZeroAvia is
pioneering.
Largest airline to invest in ZeroAvia
United is the largest airline in terms of fleet size to date to
invest in ZeroAvia's hydrogen aviation technology, though not the
first.
According to Statista, United has a fleet
size of 831 aircraft and is ranked second behind American
Airlines.
Ranked 15th, British Airways was among ZeroAvia's initial
investors along with the UK government, Bill Gates' Breakthrough
Energy Ventures, Amazon Climate Pledge, and Shell Ventures.
ZeroAvia raised $37.7 million to demonstrate its hydrogen fuel
cell-powered engine (ZA600) in a 19-state passenger plane by
2024.
Alaska Airlines, which is ranked eighth in terms of fleet size,
joined ZeroAvia's group of investors in October. At the time,
Alaska also announced plans to secure options for retrofitting its
regional jet fleet with ZeroAvia's powertrains, starting with Q400
aircraft that can carry up to 80 passengers.
To date, ZeroAvia said it has
raised $115 million to demonstrate its technology on regional
aircraft with engines of various sizes.
Advancing sustainability
United's Kirby said the airline continues to look for
opportunities to "not only advance our own sustainability
initiatives but also identify and help technologies and solutions
that the entire industry can adopt."
On 1 December, United became the first airline to demonstrate
that a Boeing 737-MAX can run on 100% SAF without any operational
problems. The plane, which transported 100 passengers between
Chicago O'Hare Airport and Washington Reagan National Airport, had
one of its two engines running on 100% SAF, which has a much lower
carbon footprint than regular jet fuel.
SAF is made from renewable sources such as used cooking oil,
municipal waste, and woody biomass.
United is part of the US airline trade group Airlines4America
that pledged in September to meet a White House goal of making 3
billion gallons of SAF available to its airlines by 2030.
In support of that goal, United announced it would partner with
North Carolina-based Honeywell to invest in Alder Fuels, a clean
tech company seeking to produce SAF from forest and crop waste.
Under this partnership with Honeywell, United said it will obtain
1.5 billion gallons of SAF from Alder Fuels over a 20-year
period.
The International Renewable Energy Agency in July projected that 100 billion
liters of SAF will be needed by 2050, but current production of
about 140 million liters in 2019 was still very limited and is
"considerably less than 0.1% of the current global jet fuel
consumption."
Posted 14 December 2021 by Amena Saiyid, Senior Climate and Energy Research Analyst
