Performance study of a hybrid aircraft propulsion system integrating a high-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell
Shiyi Xu,
Shuang Leng,
Zekuan Liu,
Kunlin Cheng,
Chengjie Li,
Yongbin Ji,
Cong Wang and
Jiang Qin
Energy, 2025, vol. 336, issue C
Abstract:
To address the challenges of aviation carbon emissions and overcome the performance limitations of aviation turbine engines, this study proposes a hybrid aircraft propulsion system (HAPS) integrating a high-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell (HT-PEMFC) and a turbofan engine. The system utilizes the physical and chemical endothermic effects of the methanol steam reforming process to effectively cool the high-temperature air from the compressor outlet to below 465.67K, resolving the temperature mismatch between the fuel cell and the turbofan engine. Additionally, a bypass airflow-based cooling scheme achieves waste heat recovery efficiency of 10.13 %–13.31 %. By developing a lumped-parameter thermodynamic model, the study systematically analyzes the impact of key design parameters, providing a theoretical foundation for performance optimization. Comprehensive performance analysis results suggest that the HAPS achieves an equivalent bypass ratio of 28.75 and an overall efficiency of 37.65 %, representing a 10.62 % improvement over the baseline turbofan engine. CO2 emissions are reduced by 28.21 %. Although the water-carrying requirement leads to a 3.27 % decrease in specific impulse, this study validates the feasibility of the proposed technical approach, offering new insights for the low-carbon transformation of aviation propulsion systems.
Keywords: Hybrid aircraft propulsion system; High-temperature proton exchange membrane fuel cell; Methanol steam reforming; Waste heat recovery; Turbofan engine (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:energy:v:336:y:2025:i:c:s0360544225040125
DOI: 10.1016/j.energy.2025.138370
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