Rolls-Royce Converts a Modern Aircraft Engine to Run on Hydrogen

Rolls-Royce and easyJet have partnered to convert and run a modern aircraft engine on hydrogen, and in so doing set a new aviation milestone.

The ground test(Opens in a new window) was conducted at the Royal Air Force Boscombe Down military air base in England using a converted Rolls-Royce AE 2100-A regional aircraft engine. The green hydrogen fuel was created using wind and tidal power by European Marine Energy Centre(Opens in a new window) (EMEC) and shipped to the military base from Orkney by ferry.

Although only an early concept demonstrator, the successful test shows that existing engines can be powered using clean fuel produced from renewable sources.

Grazia Vittadini, Chief Technology Officer, Rolls-Royce, said:

“The success of this hydrogen test is an exciting milestone. We only announced our partnership with easyJet in July and we are already off to an incredible start with this landmark achievement. We are pushing the boundaries to discover the zero carbon possibilities of hydrogen, which could help reshape the future of flight.”

The plan now is to run a number of further rig tests which will be followed by a full-scale ground test using a Rolls-Royce Pearl 15(Opens in a new window) jet engine. The Pearl 15 was developed for use on the Bombardier Global 5500(Opens in a new window) and Global 6500(Opens in a new window) aircraft, which can reach speeds of Mach 0.90 and have a flight range of between 5,900 and 6,600 miles.