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  Rolls-Royce

  Stock Code:

  RR

  Date Founded:

  1906-03-15

  CEO:

  Tufan Erginbilgic

  Headquarters Location:

  London, United Kingdom

  Business Type:

  Engine Maker

  Key Product Lines:

  Trent Engine, Pearl Engine

While speaking at the CogX conference in London, the Chief Executive Officer of Rolls-Royce, Warren East, stated that the first transatlantic flight powered solely by sustainable aviation fuel is likely to happen as soon as next year. If this occurs, 2023 could be a symbolic turning point in aviation's quest to lower emissions for long-haul travel.

Today, commercial aircraft are certified to fly on a 50/50 biofuel to conventional kerosene-based jet fuel blend. However, over the past year, Rolls-Royce has been testing its engines on 100% pure sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF. In collaboration with Airbus, it has even operated an A380 and its Rolls-Royce Trent 900s on a neat biofuel blend. Mr East stated, as quoted by media outlet The National News,

"There have been thousands, probably tens of thousands of flights powered by sustainable aviation fuel. (...) What people do is use a small portion of sustainable fuels in a mix — 100% is technically possible. We're testing our engines right now."

Rolls-Royce has signed an agreement with Air bp to use a 10% SAF blend for all engine testing at Rolls-Royce facilities in Derby and Bristol, UK, and Dahlewitz, Germany. In addition, Air bp will also provide the fuel for the first run of its biggest engine yet, the Rolls-Royce UltraFan demonstrator, which will be carried out entirely on 100% SAF later this year.

In short supply

United Airlines has also operated a domestic narrowbody passenger flight for which one of the two engines was powered solely by SAF. Meanwhile, even if a certification for 100% SAF operations was approved by regulators tomorrow, there is hardly enough of the stuff to go around.

Today, SAF accounts for approximately 1% of jet fuel uplifted globally. Despite a significant increase in investments over the past year, it will be a long time before it will make any substantial dent in aviation's overall emissions. And it's going to need the support of policymakers to get there, either through mandates, incentives, or a combination of both, to get there.

Check out more of the latest aviation news to stay up to date with what is happening in the industry!

Hydrogen storage too problematic for short-term solution

While the SAF industry will be striving to scale up production, other seriously decarbonizing technologies are waiting in the wings. Sustainable fuels may be the best interim measure we've got. However, novel propulsion systems powered by electricity and hydrogen will generate much more significant savings in overall emissions - when the technology matures.

Mr East said that while it would indeed be fantastic to hop on a plane powered by hydrogen and travel across the Atlantic, the conundrum of how to store the gas on board an aircraft is not one that will soon be solved.

"I'm pretty confident that one day I will have those incredibly complex systems to easily burn the hydrogen on the aircraft, but can I store enough hydrogen on the airplane? And importantly, can I store it safely and economically?"

The electric game

However, Rolls-Royce is much more confident in bringing electrically powered aircraft to market within the near future - by the mid-2020s, even. The company has already produced the world's fastest all-electric plane, and has its sights set on transferring the technology to commercial operations. Mr East commented,

"We expect by the middle of this decade to have Rolls-Royce-powered aircraft with paying passengers, relying on pure electric, to carry a relatively small number of people, who are going a relatively short distance, maybe 10 people for 250 miles or so."

Do you agree with the Rolls-Royce boss' assessment? Will we see 100% SAF-powered flights across the Atlantic in less than 18 months? Leave a comment below and share your thoughts.

Source: The National News