OVERLEAF, an innovative liquid hydrogen storage concept for aviation.
OVERLEAF, an innovative liquid hydrogen storage concept for aviation.
The innovative solution allows dormancy times to be maintained between 24 and 48 hours with 0% hydrogen venting depending on the size of the tank.
In OVERLEAF, several partners across Europe are maturing low TRL (Technology Readiness Level) technologies that contribute to this innovative concept of liquid hydrogen storage (LH2) for aviation (https://overleaf-project.eu/). This concept, originated at Aciturri, focuses in an intimate integration of the tank with the aircraft structure minimizing the weight impact and enabling hydrogen storage for commercial aviation. This is an important step contributing to the decarbonization of aviation and, therefore, to the Green Deal objectives established by the European Union, where hydrogen is the energy vector that will make a significant contribution to meeting them.
Aciturri, in its concept design coordination role, is already providing insights about the potential performance of the solution. For example, it considers the complete typical commercial aircraft mission profiles in order to completely avoid hydrogen venting in a regular aircraft operation. Additionally, the concept is capable of sustained 24 hours dormancy time (i.e. with the aircraft stopped on ground) with 0% hydrogen venting for a small tanks of 150 kg.
Once scaled-up, the solution could achieve easily dormancy times of up to 48 hours with 0% venting while keeping exceptional gravimetric indexes above 60%. This performance is completely aligned with the regular commercial aviation activity in which operating aircraft are rarely on ground for more than 12 hours.
The consortium, led by Aciturri, is formed by AIMEN, CANOE, Universitat de Girona, Technische Universiteit Delft, Arkema France SA, ICSI, ICONS, Norges Teknisk-Naturvitenskapelige Universitet and AIMPLAS.
OVERLEAF is an ambitious project that, supported by the experience provided by each of the participating entities, will be a solid candidate for the hydrogen tank that will integrate the aircraft of the future.
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