Hypersonic passenger jet to run on clean fuel is unveiled at Paris Air Show

Super-fast speed — think Tokyo to L.A. in 2 1/2 hours — isn’t the only cool feature of the Zero Emission Hyper Sonic Transport proposed by EADS. At the Paris Air Show this week, the aircraft manufacturer and Airbus parent revealed its proposed passenger aircraft, which would be run on, among other sources, liquid hydrogen and biofuel.

The aircraft, which EADS said could be standard by 2050, would cruise at Mach 4 speeds nearly 20 miles high — inside the Earth’s atmosphere. Demonstration technologies could be ready by the end of this decade.

Companies at the Paris show were buzzing about clean-fuel options. Airbus and Parker Aerospace said they would look into fuel-cell technology that converts hydrogen and oxygen into electricity and creates water as exhaust. The pair said that flight tests could happen by mid-decade.

The Air Transport Assn. of America, the industry trade group, said a slew of member airlines signed letters of intent to partner with Solena Group. The company produces its GreenSky California fuel from biomass at a Santa Clara County facility.

By 2015, Solena plans to have 16 million gallons of jet fuel ready each year, made from urban and agricultural waste that would otherwise end up in landfills.

Carriers including American Airlines, United Continental Holdings, JetBlue Airways, Southwest Airlines and US Airways said they were interested in using the fuel at airports including Oakland, San Francisco and San Jose.

ASTM International, which creates standards for a number of industries, is expected in July to formally approve renewable biofuel blends with tradtional jet fuel for commercial flights.

Also, South San Francisco company Solazyme Inc. said the U.S. Navy successfully demonstrated its algae-based fuel Solajet by combining it with petroleum fuel to fly a MH-60S Seahawk helicopter.

Last month, the Air Force Thunderbirds performed using a mix that included biofuel made from the camelina flower.

 

RELATED:

Up in the air...in an all-electric plane

Air Force Thunderbirds to perform using biofuel

-- Tiffany Hsu

Photo: the Zero Emission Hypersonic Transport --  a commercial aircraft able to transport 50 to 100 people. Credit: EADS / AFP/Getty Images. Video: A U.S. Navy MH-60S Seahawk helicopter became the first Navy aircraft to fly on a 50-50 blend of algae- and petroleum-based fuels. Credit: Naval Air Systems Command

Comments

[Simon]

With the introduction of advanced tele-conferencing capabilities in the future, it would be an enormous waste of money for executives to fly from one place to the other for meetings. Only a few of these trips are essential. The others can be eliminated.

[Bob Matthews]

EADS is a big defense contractor, so promising the impossible and then collecting money figuring our that it won't actually work is something they have a lot of experience with. They are selling pipe dreams, very lovely pipe dreams. Let's see which public figures reveal their gullibility.

[SoCal_Bozo]

Zero emission bio-fuel, baloney.

Oil was plants and animals once upon a time.

[t dxxl]

How much fuel will it use per passenger?
Using biofuel does not make it green; standard transports that are more efficient can also use biofuel.

[Clint Warshaw]

The picture alone makes it seem highly unlikely that a hypersonic plane could be cost effective. Half the volume is taken up by fuel tanks! What are the ticket prices going to be? The answer is astronomical. It will be far less practical than the Concorde was. The aircraft "could be standard by 2050". Ludicrous.

[El Guapo de la ciudad de Los Angeles]

By 2050 molecular transporters will be in vogue.

[Dean Blake]

Why does anyone need to get to Japan in 2 1/2 hours? Whomever that highly paid executive is, s/he's paid way too much if anyone thinks its cost effective to save such a person a mere 6 hours. Which would be better spent sleeping to make the time adjustment to arrive fresh.

Otherwise, they've been promising us teleportation for years and we shouldn't settle for anything less.

[Big_Cadillac]

wowlfie - If people like you controlled progress we would still be riding horses and using the telegraph, or worse.

[Carlos]

Here is the video about the ZEHST project:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aEi4OMWonMU

[Cheese Wonton]

The US Navy has run several combat aircraft types on biofuels successfully, and has run their gas turbine powered combat ships on soybean oil instead of diesel or jet fuel.
The reason for the military experiments is to have some back up fuels in case oil supplies are restricted in a war. For the civilian side, the Europeans and Chinese are looking hard for alternatives to oil. They also want to be able to re-use their trash as many ways as possible. VW has a program to use green waste as a fuel. It is normal European thinking in a place with little land to spare and limited natural resources.
As for a Mach 4 passenger jet, I don't see this being economical. Material science is not at a point where such high speeds can be done cheaply. The airframe will have to be cooled, the cockpit windows will have to be covered for such high speeds or they will melt, Mach 4 is a very demanding environment.

[John Dingler, artist]

I wonder what percentage of the total volume of the plane equals the percentage of the total people who will have food taken away from them to make the fuel? Anyone know?

[wowlfie]

What a bunch of empty promises which they have yet to create a hypersonic engine that works. Most all test flights have ended in failure or at most 2 minutes of flight after which the engines melted or failed catastrophically.

This is just another sample of fusion type thinking and after 50 years we still are no closer to a fusion reactor that works and produces energy that we can consume.

Pie in the sky dreaming to draw in bucks from the government.

[hdj8501]

Where do I buy a ticket!

[danish d'abreau]

beach balls? pixie dust? that jet has "SHOPPING" written all over it to me.

[AE]

EADS is definitely thinking in the right direction. If a hypersonic passenger jet were an option, I’d be more likely to travel overseas. Can we get one to fly direct from Wichita, Kansas to Perth, Western Australia?

[Mr Vanderdecken]

Glad to see Magic Fairy pixie dust is being used to propel aircraft now.

Look, the problem is not the fuel, the problem is flying around for no really useful reason.

Someone please do a story on what the same Hydrogen would burn/cost to transport people in an airship like a zeppelin.

Then get back to me on how much fuel you are saving during transportation.

[Kelly M Bray]

But the beach balls are flying in luxury.

[Duh Sluh Su]

That's some good work JT

[JT]

This aircraft may be terrifically fast, but looks quite inefficient. Total cargo capacity, three beach balls?