Composites with reduced riveting requirements, algae-based biofuels and hydrogen fuel cells are the environmental technologies with the best-value proposition for the next generation of airliners, according to EADS chief technical officer Jean Botti.
The fuel cells would be used as auxiliary power generators, the reduced rivet count composite structures would simplify manufacturing and the algae fuels have the highest energy density of any biofuel.
Botti described these key technologies to Flightglobal in an exclusive interview that ranged over reform to the Advisory Council for Aeronautics Research in Europe (ACARE) objectives, improving academic, corporate and public institution collaboration and the engineer gap that Europe is facing.
Describing a situation where aircraft would not turn their engines on until they reach the start of the runway Botti told Flightglobal: "The fuel cell could also be based on the tug vehicles and could provide power until the aircraft is ready to start its engines for take-off, saving tonnes of fuel."
He added that biofuels could have a nearer-term application with helicopters. Because helicopters have regional operations and the world's fleets fuel needs are a fraction of the airlines, biofuels could meet their demands.
On the ACARE objectives, which are to be reviewed in the next 18 months, Botti wants the review's outcome to confirm that the existing objectives have to be met and made a reality and not that they are made even more ambitious. "All of the ACARE objectives are difficult," he says.
One of the biggest challenges EADS and the rest of Europe's engineering companies face is the 30% of their workforce that reaches retirement age over the next five years at a time when schoolchildren are not taking up the sciences. In response EADS is running a foundation with competitions for school children to encourage them to take an interest in science and engineering.
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Source: Flight Daily News
