This week, the Paris Air Show began with announcements from two sustainable aviation ventures expanding their efforts in Washington state.
The hydrogen-powered aviation startup ZeroAvia has announced that it will expand its R&D capabilities at its Paine Field facility in Everett. ZeroAvia will receive a $350,000 grant from the state Department of Commerce to support the project, doubling the state’s previous investment. Last month, the organization praised an organization with Gold country Carriers to retrofit a resigned plane with its drive framework.
Twelve, a company developing sustainable aviation fuel, announced that it is constructing a commercial-scale production facility in Moses Lake, Eastern Washington. Twelve uses carbon dioxide and water to make a synthetic jet fuel, drawing comparisons to photosynthesis. When compared to conventional fossil fuels, it reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 90% and powers its process with renewable energy.
The air show in Le Bourget, France, lasts for a whole week, and a Washington delegation of nearly two dozen businesses and organizations is there to talk about the state’s role in sustainable aviation and get new businesses interested in flying into the Pacific Northwest.
Technology is in high demand everywhere. A global coalition of commercial airlines made a pledge two years ago to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Shipping companies and other businesses also want to cut emissions.
Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association, addressed a Boeing-led conference near Seattle this spring and stated, “We recognize that this is going to be extremely challenging, but it is achievable and we are absolutely determined to do everything we can to achieve that goal.” The conference was held near Seattle.
The petroleum fuels that power the majority of airplanes make it impossible to go green in aviation because there are no alternatives that come close to matching their affordability, availability, weight, or sheer amount of energy. Strategies for reducing carbon include:
Fuel for sustainable aviation (SAF): Feedstock materials include crops, sewage and dairy waste, waste vegetable oils, and agricultural and forestry debris.
Hydrogen: This fuel can be made from water and methane, among other things, and burnt directly or in fuel cells.
Batteries: Due to the batteries’ “energy density,” or weight in relation to the power generated, this option is currently restricted to smaller aircraft flying shorter distances.
Operations and materials modifications: NASA awarded Boeing a $425 million, seven-year grant to develop and test ultra-thin-winged fuel-efficient aircraft. Flight plans are being modified to reduce fuel consumption by airlines, cargo companies, and others.
Contrail studies: The ice cloud clouds produced by engine exhaust are unpredictable contrails. The Contrail Impact Task Force was established last year to investigate contrail impacts and opportunities for reduction.
It’s a lot to think about. The Cascade Climate Impact Model, a free tool released by Boeing last month, is intended to assist businesses in evaluating the cost-benefit trade-offs of various approaches to lowering carbon emissions, possibly with the intention of including Boeing aircraft in the solutions.
SAF is being favored by many established aerospace interests, particularly in the near future. It is possible to use the fuel in aircraft that already exist by mixing it with jet fuel. Boeing authorities refer to SAF as “the greatest switch” for cutting aeronautics carbon. However, the fuel is in short supply, accounting for well less than 1% of the total jet fuel that is currently available.
Senior emerging technology analyst Jonathan Geurkink of PitchBook seems to agree that SAF is the best option, at least for the time being. Today, “it’s a plug-and-play kind of solution for a lot of different reasons,” Guerkink stated. We don’t want to dump all of these planes at once.
Twelve signed a memorandum of understanding with Microsoft and Alaska Air last year to support the startup’s technology development in addition to the announced expansion in Moses Lake. Microsoft hopes to use Twelve’s fuel to offset employee travel costs, while Alaska intends to test it in one of its aircraft.
Locally, the sector is receiving additional support. In the spring of this year, lawmakers in Washington approved a bill that created a tax incentive for locally produced SAF and approved funding for a sustainable aviation fuel R&D center at Paine Field. In May, the Dutch company SkyNRG said it would build a biogas plant in Washington to make environmentally friendly aviation fuel.
“Assuming that motivating forces are adjusted suitably, there is feedstock, there’s innovation — everything that are set up to create practical flying fuel,” said John Dees, a senior decarbonization researcher with Carbon Direct. ” It concerns costs. It continues to cost more.
Numerous businesses are looking into alternative fuel options, despite the fact that SAF has an advantage in cleaner aviation. This includes: in the Pacific Northwest:
ZeroAvia, with offices in California and the UK and research and development facilities in Everett.
In order to develop its aircraft, Universal Hydrogen, a California company, collaborates with AeroTEC, based in Seattle, and MagniX, based in Everett. Universal Hydrogen tested its hydrogen-powered electric propulsion system on a plane called Lightning McClean in March at Moses Lake.
Eviation, a company with headquarters in Arlington, Wash., completed a successful test flight of its all-electric Alice aircraft in Moses Lake in September 2022.
Personal aviation startup Zeva Aero is based in Tacoma, Wash., and its planned products include battery-powered aircraft.
However, clean hydrogen fuel is also in short supply, just like SAF. Additionally, because hydrogen is expensive and difficult to transport, some people consider producing it close to where it is used. In order for battery-powered flight to succeed, weight reduction efforts must continue.
There are a lot of good reasons to believe that hydrogen and batteries won’t be really viable for a while. Dees stated, “It’s not just a question of whether it works in the plane; the airports would need to adopt a lot of infrastructure.”
However, despite the obstacles, hydrogen and batteries are “where things will go,” he added.