Project Summary
Building on our TRIG 2021-winning innovation of the world’s first liquid hydrogen bunkering facility for zero-emission ships, our current project aims to extend this pioneering technology to aircraft and drones. This advancement will explore the feasibility of adapting our existing liquid hydrogen fueling system for use in aviation, marking a significant progress in airport decarbonisation. Our goal is to progress from TRL2 to TRL5+, focusing on developing and refining the control, instrumentation systems, and operational protocols for safe, efficient hydrogen handling in airside environments. This project represents a crucial step towards realising versatile, zero-emission fueling solutions across different transport sectors.
Project Achievements
From discussions with hydrogen aircraft developers and market research we determined the aviation industry is likely to be the first sector requiring a range of zero emission fuels to power pilot projects. We developed new insights into the market, regulatory frameworks that would affect the operations of the ZEMFS and developed the highlight of the project – the VR software showing the fueling of Cranfield Aerospace’s hydrogen powered ‘Islander’ aircraft that can be used for both training and marketing purposes.
Conclusions
In this project we have progressed our project from TRL 2 to 3 or 4. This project has allowed us to conduct research to develop the zero emissions multi fueling station concept further. In 2025 we will have a live fueling system and are in early discussions to be part of aviation fueling demonstrations, which will bring the TRL level to 6 or 7. Our project will provide positive impact through economic growth and job creation, reduce environmental impacts with the reduction of greenhouse gases and improvement of air quality and noise pollution.
Next Steps
The project has allowed us to confirm the viability of the ZEMFS fueling system in the aviation sector. From March 2025 we will have a real world ZEMFS fueling system ready for supplying the zero emissions transport technologies. We have been approached and are in early discussions to provide our system for fueling in a live test environment for 2025/2026 and contacted by aircraft developers who are interested in procurement of our technology.
