Pratt & Whitney Canada (P&WC) has embarked on a project to evaluate hydrogen as fuel for a PW127XT turboprop.
The effort is among five newly launched clean-aviation-technology development projects supported with aid from the Canadian government and managed by industry-led group Initiative for Sustainable Aviation Technology.
On 6 November, that group said the Canadian government’s Strategic Innovation Fund had contributed C$28 million ($20 million) to the five efforts, which include P&WC’s hydrogen-fuel project, called Hydrogen Advanced Design Engine Study.
“Funding for the first phase of the project will include fuel nozzle and combustor rig testing using hydrogen fuel, while future phases will target full engine ground testing,” P&WC added on 6 November. The PW127XT is the latest iteration of the venerable PW100 turboprop.
P&WC has partnered on the project with Next Hydrogen Solutions, a company developing technology to produce hydrogen using renewal electricity. Next Hydrogen will “develop high-efficiency, low-cost electrolysers needed for establishing hydrogen production infrastructure”, P&WC says. “This collaborative project… enables us to develop key technologies for future hydrogen-powered aircraft.”
P&WC calls regional aviation “one of the most-promising use cases for hydrogen”.
The effort is among five initial research efforts overseen by the Initiative for Sustainable Aviation Technology, which P&WC helped form with a C$350 million investment last year from the Canadian government. Canada funded the entity to accelerate “the green industrial transformation of the aerospace industry”, it said at the time.
The other newly disclosed research projects include an effort by P&WC to study hot-section engine components made from advanced materials for the purpose of improving thermal efficiency.
Additionally, Ballard Power Systems and Hydrogen in Motion will study a “hydrogen storage and fuel-cell solution for aviation”, Harbour Air will continue developing an all-electric-modified De Havilland Canada DHC-2 Beaver, and Duxion Motors will advance its study of an electric-powered single-seat jet.
The Initiative for Sustainable Aviation Technology says “total investment in these projects” comes to C$101 million”, including the C$28 million in government aid.
