Prospects of Transition of Air Transportation to Clean Fuels: Economic and Environmental Management Aspects

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to forecast the economic and environmental performance of two promising fuel and energy technologies for aviation, which are at the prototyping stage (the use of electric energy and hydrogen fuel cells), in comparison with traditional fuel. The basic methodology of the study is life cycle assessment (LCA), defined by the family of international environmental management standards ISO 14000. The study revealed that from an environmental point of view, one of the most preferred technologies in the medium term is the use of hydrogen produced by steam reforming. In the long-term (with the entry of fully electrified aircraft into the market), technologies for using electricity as a fuel produced either by wind / solar generation or by gas generation of a combined cycle also demonstrate high environmental performance. Moreover, according to the most important for human health categories of environmental impact, it is preferable to generate electricity for fully electrified airplanes by combined gas generation cycle.