Advantages of the use of hydrogen fuel as compared to kerosene

C. Koroneos, A. Dompros, G. Roumbas and N. Moussiopoulos

Resources, Conservation & Recycling, 2005, vol. 44, issue 2, 99-113

Abstract: A life cycle assessment (LCA) study has been carried out to investigate the environmental aspects of two types of aviation fuel, kerosene that is presently used and hydrogen. Hydrogen is selected as a future aircraft fuel because of the absence of CO2 emissions from its use, its high energy content and its combustion kinetics. The life cycle of aviation fuel includes the production and the use of the aviation fuel in different types of aircraft. Hydrogen production by natural gas steam reforming and production upon renewable energy sources (RES) are examined. A very large number of environmental burdens result from the operation of the different fuel cycles. Air pollution is by far the biggest environmental problem that is resulting from hydrogen and kerosene production and use. This work has been mainly concentrated with this environmental impact category. It is shown that the production of hydrogen from RES has significantly lower environmental impact as compared to that of kerosene. However, the use of different RES carries different environmental impacts among them. The production of hydrogen resulting from the use of photovoltaics to capture solar energy carries the biggest environmental impact among the other RES, wind, hydropower, biomass and solar thermal.

Keywords: Aviation fuel; Hydrogen; Life cycle assessment; Kerosene (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:recore:v:44:y:2005:i:2:p:99-113

DOI: 10.1016/j.resconrec.2004.09.004

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