Presenting the roadmap for the use of hydrogen at Hamburg Airport

"Networked mobility for liveable places is an important guiding principle for DLR. We take challenges in the context of climate change, the energy transition and the transformation of mobility as an opportunity to develop solutions for both urban areas and the surrounding regions," says Meike Jipp, DLR Divisional Board Member for Energy and Transport. "We are developing ideas for vehicle and mobility concepts together with partners from industry, local authorities and transport companies. Airports are important hubs that can make a significant contribution to transforming the transport system and creating liveable places."

Hamburg Airport could play a pioneering role in the introduction of hydrogen. Michael Eggenschwiler, Chair of the Executive Board at Hamburg Airport says: "We want to lead the energy transition in air transport. There is no alternative to hydrogen. For this reason, we are already involved in several projects that will make a significant contribution to the transition to this clean energy source. If we want to enable the use of this new technology, we need to ensure that the infrastructure is developed and ready for use when the first aircraft enter service. This calls for not just the willingness of the airport operators and aircraft developers, but also of politicians – this is the only way we can set the necessary course together today."

Well-coordinated approach required for hydrogen introduction

This requires a systemic approach: The necessary infrastructure on the ground, the hydrogen delivery plans via land routes, the adjustment of airport processes and the technological development of aircraft are important prerequisites for success.

The roadmap that has been presented uses the example of Hamburg Airport to show how this can work. The topics range from the expected demand for hydrogen, the design of the hydrogen supply system and the costs that can be expected from today's perspective to practical aspects such as adapting the airport infrastructure and operational changes to airport processes.

Forecasts by the DLR Institute of Air Transport show that – provided politicians and industry set the right course – the first hydrogen-powered short-haul flights could be carried out as early as the 2030s. By 2050, the proportion of departures using hydrogen-powered aircraft in Hamburg could rise to 60 percent. This would then correspond to an annual hydrogen requirement at Hamburg Airport of 60,000 tonnes with a correspondingly substantial reduction in carbon dioxide emissions.

Existing delivery routes and storage capacities as a prerequisite

In the first few years up to around 2040, it can be assumed that hydrogen will be supplied in small quantities using special tanker trucks. As demand increases, an additional supply via a pipeline connection will become necessary. Without a pipeline, an average of approximately 40 tankers per day would otherwise be needed to supply the airport with hydrogen in 2050. On peak days, this would be significantly more.

The delivery of hydrogen via pipeline will have to be in gaseous form due to the design of the system. As aircraft will primarily require hydrogen in liquid form for refuelling in the long term, a liquefaction plant will also be required to cover peak demand at the airport. In addition to the extra space, such a plant requires a substantial investment and very large amounts of electricity generated from renewable sources during operation.

Jan Eike Blohme-Hardegen, Head of the Environment Department at Hamburg Airport, explains: "The supply and storage of the amount of hydrogen required in the future will require a completely new infrastructure at our airport. We need to start preparing and building this infrastructure now if we want to establish climate-friendly propulsion systems for air transport in the near future." Tanks will be needed at the airport for the liquid hydrogen to provide a fuel buffer for approximately three days – as is the case today with conventional kerosene. Such cryogenic tanks are still quite rare worldwide and are so far mainly used by the space industry at rocket launch sites. The largest tanks to date are located at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. For physics reasons, storage in a spherical tank is the most efficient solution. One such tank, for example, has a diameter of 34 metres with a capacity of approximately 400 tonnes and requires a footprint of around 900 square metres. Such a large tank could be needed at an airport like Hamburg as early as 2040, and two such tanks will probably be required by 2050.