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BTN News
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Thursday, 04 September 2014
European plane maker Airbus and South Africa’s National Aerospace Centre are funding research by Hydrogen South Africa (HySA) Systems for fuel cell use on planes.
Airbus says hydrogen fuel cells could be an emissions-free substitute for the auxiliary power units (APUs) used for generating on-board electrical power and heat while the aircraft is on the ground.
Replacing the fossil fuel-powered APUs with hydrogen fuel cells would cut emissions and simplify maintenance as well as lowering an aircraft’s weight.
HySA Systems’ director Bruno Pollet said: “The research is aimed at understanding how hydrogen fuel cells could perform over an aircraft’s service life, while subjected to the harsh and rapidly changing climatic and environmental regimes that commercial jetliners operate in.”
The research is expected to take an initial thee years.