Fuel
Sustainability Leads See Hydrogen as SAF Future
Rather than develop new hydrogen-powered propulsion systems, the aviation industry should focus on using hydrogen to produce SAF, panelists contend.
Hydrogen
Hydrogen could be used to fuel future aircraft with novel propulsion systems, but it could also be used to create sustainable aviation fuel that airplanes can already use today.

Hydrogen may be the fuel of the future, but it’s probably best used to create sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) rather than a direct fuel source for hydrogen-powered aircraft that do not yet exist today. At least that’s what Rolls-Royce’s senior v-p of strategy Frank Moesta said Wednesday during a panel discussion on novel propulsion at EBACE 2023. 

“To be honest, I’m not a big fan of thinking about burning hydrogen in an aircraft,” Moesta said. He would prefer to see hydrogen being used to create eFuels—a synthetic form of SAF—rather than develop aircraft with entirely different propulsion systems.

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