Research Project for the Use of Hydrogen in Aviation Starts in Hamburg

The aerospace industry is preparing for flying with hydrogen.

In Hamburg, the world’s third-largest aviation centre, a new development platform is being launched to test the new technology from as early as 2022. Funded by the Hanseatic City of Hamburg, Lufthansa Technik will work with the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), the Centre for Applied Aeronautical Research (ZAL) and Hamburg Airport over the next two years to design and test extensive maintenance and ground processes in handling hydrogen technology.

For this purpose, an aircraft of the Airbus A320 family will be converted into a stationary laboratory at Lufthansa Technik’s base in Hamburg.

Liquid hydrogen (LH2) is increasingly being more concretely envisaged in the development departments of large aircraft manufacturers as a sustainably producible fuel for future generations of commercial aircraft.

In order to investigate the effects of the use of LH2 on maintenance and ground processes at an early stage, Lufthansa Technik, DLR, ZAL and Hamburg Airport are now pooling their extensive practical and scientific expertise. The aim is to jointly develop a pioneering demonstrator, and to operate it from 2022.

As the world’s third largest aviation location, the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg is funding the research project with the largest single item in its special programme to mitigate the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic on the aviation industry.

Source: Global Energy World