Addressing Confidence in Modeling of Contrail Formation from E-Fuels in Aviation Using Large Eddy Simulation Parametrization

Eduardo Cabrera and João M. Melo de Sousa ()
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Eduardo Cabrera: Instituto Superior Técnico, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal
João M. Melo de Sousa: IDMEC, Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Av. Rovisco Pais, 1049-001 Lisboa, Portugal

Energies, 2024, vol. 17, issue 6, 1-17

Abstract: As it becomes increasingly necessary to reduce aviation-related emissions, condensation trails present an additional challenge. These are arguably responsible for the largest contribution to radiative forcing in the sector, but the phenomenon is still not as well understood as those involving other agents. The present study employs a large eddy simulation (LES) parametrization to validate a previously developed contrail model in order to assess the feasibility of a multi-model approach to increase confidence in simulations of contrail cirrus formation. Subsequently, the computational model was used to analyze the impact of e-fuels in contrail dynamics, resulting in reductions of over 7% and 14%, respectively, in average contrail lifetime and optical depth, with such improvements increasing if higher blending limits are utilized. This confirmed the potential for e-fuels as the most viable option for near-future large-scale implementations among all sustainable aviation fuel alternatives.

Keywords: contrails; large eddy simulation parametrization; e-fuels; sustainable aviation fuel (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q Q0 Q4 Q40 Q41 Q42 Q43 Q47 Q48 Q49 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2024
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