FutureFlight
Rolls-Royce Achieves Max Takeoff Thrust with Hydrogen-powered Pearl Engine
The UK aero engine maker is working with several partners, including EasyJet, to advance plans for a hydrogen-powered narrowbody airliner.
Rolls-Royce Pearl 700 hydrogen engine test bed
Rolls-Royce and partners have used a Pearl 700 business jet engine to test a new approach to hydrogen combustion. (Image: Rolls-Royce)

Rolls-Royce and partners have run a Pearl 700 business aircraft engine on 100 percent hydrogen fuel as part of longer-term work to develop a hydrogen combustion engine for narrowbody airliners by the mid-2030s. Working with the UK’s Loughborough University and German aerospace research agency DLR, the aero engines group said tests on a full annular combustor proved that hydrogen can produce maximum takeoff thrust.

According to Rolls-Royce, the breakthrough is based on new fuel spray nozzles that control the combustion process. “This involved overcoming significant engineering challenges as hydrogen burns far hotter and more rapidly than kerosene,” the company explained in a statement issued on September 25. “The new nozzles were able to control the flame position using a system that progressively mixes air with the hydrogen to maximize the fuel’s reactivity.”