Zero-emission aviation initiatives have mainly focused on using hydrogen or drop-in biofuels and sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) to replace fossil-based jet fuels to achieve near-term reductions in carbon emissions with minimal impacts on the global aircraft fleet and supporting infrastructure. Despite significant advances in the production of such fuels, scaling up manufacturing capability to be cost-competitive remains a challenge. This paper discusses ammonia as a carrier of green hydrogen for aviation, with near-zero emission. Ammonia is proposed as both a carrier of hydrogen as fuel and to provide cooling for compressor intercooling and cooled cooling air for core efficiency improvement,…

A $10 million, five-year NASA University Leadership Initiative grant will allow an academic-industry team to develop new ammonia-fed jet engines. Researchers at the University of Central Florida will lead a team including collaborators from Georgia Tech, Purdue University, GE and Boeing. The proposed design uses liquid ammonia fuel, which is cracked to release hydrogen, which will be burned by the engine. The team is using the Boeing 737-8 aircraft as a baseline for the design.