Estimating the Energy Demand of a Hydrogen-Based Long-Haul Air Transportation Network

A hydrogen-based air transportation network could play a key role in decarbonizing aviation, which currently accounts for about 3% of anthropogenic climate change. Hydrogen conversion for long-haul (as opposed to short-haul) flights would concentrate infrastructure change to large airports and maximize climate impact. In this paper, the key components of such a network are defined and its energy demand is estimated. A design study for an example liquid-hydrogen-fueled long-haul transport aircraft is performed to estimate fuel demand for the network. The energy conversion chain is quantitatively modeled, from on-site electrolysis to liquefaction, storage, distribution, fueling, and flight. Implementation feasibility of necessary components is discussed and technological challenges are identified. The study concludes that liquid-hydrogen long-haul networks are feasible from a flight physics and technological perspective, but worldwide hydrogen production capacity would need to be greatly increased. The amount of clean electricity needed to power the proposed long-haul network in this study is 2.91 TWh per day which is 36% of current global green energy production or 30% of current global nuclear energy production.