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Grounded aeroplanes which include Airbus A380s, Boeing MAX 8s and other smaller aircrafts are seen at the Asia Pacific Aircraft Storage facility in Alice Springs, Australia.
Steve Strike/Getty Images
General Electric
is diving deeper into hydrogen technology. This time in its aviation division.
General Electric (ticker: GE), along with
Safran
(SAF.France), its partner in the CFM venture, and
Airbus
(AIR.France), announced on Wednesday they will test running a huge A380 commercial jet on hydrogen fuel.
“The purpose of the project is to demonstrate the technology,” said Massimo Varriani, European system leader for the hydrogen program, in GE’s news release. “What is important is that we demonstrate we can fly with an engine that is burning just hydrogen, we have the storage capability of hydrogen in the aircraft and we have a system that is capable of distributing the hydrogen fuel into the combustor with the proper characteristics.”
Storing hydrogen on a plane won’t be easy. Hydrogen is a gas in normal conditions. It will have to be compressed into a liquid to be used as a jet fuel substitute. That means cooling it to roughly minus 423 degrees Fahrenheit.
The first tests are targeted for the middle of the decade. A plane using hydrogen as fuel could be carrying paying passengers by the end of the decade.
Hydrogen fuel today is expensive, relative to jet fuel, but it is one way the global aviation industry can cut its emissions of carbon dioxide. Traditional jet fuel is a fossil fuel, derived from oil. Burning it generates carbon dioxide, the main gas blamed for global climate change. Hydrogen gas can be burned too, but it generates no greenhouse gases when combusted.
Hydrogen technology is getting more attention across multiple industries.
Nikola
(NKLA) and
Plug Power
(PLUG), for instance, want to build heavy-duty electric trucks that use hydrogen fuel cells to generate electricity. GE is also looking into using hydrogen technology in its power division as well. The company is working on using hydrogen gas, instead of natural gas, to power some of its electricity producing turbines.
Hydrogen technology, especially in aviation, is still a long way from commercial application. The news isn’t moving GE stock all that much. Shares were up 0.3% in premarket trading Wednesday.
S&P 500
and
Dow Jones Industrial Average
futures rose 0.6% and 0.5%, respectively.
Airbus and Safran shares gained 1.9% and 1.5% in overseas trading, respectively.
Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com
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