Big Ol' Jet Air Whiner

Plan to regulate airline emissions moves forward in E.U.

Posted at 4:26 PM on 21 Dec 2007

A proposed law that would regulate emissions from airlines taking off from or landing in the European Union has been approved by environment ministers. The bill to include airlines in the E.U.'s carbon-trading scheme was scaled back from the version passed by the E.U. Parliament last month, aiming to start in 2012 instead of 2011 and making airlines buy only 10 percent of their carbon permits, with the rest distributed free, instead of the original 25 percent. The amended proposal also caps emissions at 100 percent of average emissions from 2004 to 2006, instead of 90 percent. The plan still needs final approval by E.U. governments, which is unlikely to happen until late 2008. Plenty of complaining from the airline industry ("we'll go out of business!"), the United States ("it will hinder trade!"), and environmentalists ("it's not ambitious enough!") is guaranteed in the meantime.

sources: Press Association, Agence France-Presse, BBC News, The New York Times, Reuters

ADVERTISING POLICY

Comments: (5 comments)

You are not logged in. Thus, you cannot post a comment. If you have a Gristmill account, log in below. If you don't have a Gristmill account, well, by all means go make one! Meet you back here in five.

Worldwide impact...

...if (and I do stress the "if"), this were to pass, it would not only impact european airlines, but every airline that lands in Europe (even if they weren't based there).

by Tasermons Partner at 5:49 PM on 21 Dec 2007

Cutting jet emissions by up to 60%

Put an on board steam reformer on the plane to produce H2/CO syngas fuel from jet fuel and water. Hydrocarbon fuel consumption is cut by up to 60% with a comparable reduction in CO2 emissions.

Mike Johnston

by enki at 7:34 AM on 22 Dec 2007

Steam reformer...

...how much does one of those weigh and what are some typical dimensions? Would the weight be as much as the weight of the fuel that wouldn't haveta be consumed?

I ask because I'm actually a private pilot and the concept seems interestin' to me. Got any links, please?

by Tasermons Partner at 9:12 AM on 22 Dec 2007

RE:Tassermons Partner

...how much does one of those weigh and what are some typical dimensions? Would the weight be as much as the weight of the fuel that wouldn't haveta be consumed?

I don't believe that anyone is currently manufacturing an on-board steam reformer. This is kind of something I have been trying to draw some attention to for a while now so I appreciate your question. I will try to give you the relatively short answer in as far as what they are and what they do, etc...

Steam reforming/partial oxidation is how most hydrogen is commercially produced today. I gave a thumbnail of the chemical reaction involved in my post above so I won't rehash that here.

I became intrigued with the idea several years ago when I saw stories on plans by the oil companies to bring the hydrogen economy about by installing reformers at gas stations to supply hydrogen for fuel cell vehicles. This would solve the problem of building an infrastructure to produce, transport, distribute and store hydrogen fuel because the hydrogen would be bound to a hydrocarbon and water until the point of sale.

Then I began to wonder about the possibility of building a small enough unit to function as an on board system. I realized that there are gasoline and diesel dual fuel systems on the market today which will allow internal combustion engines to run on propane or natural gas as well as gasoline or diesel. So why not utilize such a system to convert existing vehicles to this H2/CO fuel?

At that point I saw a news release from the Pacific Northwest Lab which stated that they had developed, built and tested such an on-board reformer. Of course their intent was to use it in the future to produce h2 fuel for fuel cell vehicles. Below is a link to the description of that system:

http://www.pnl.gov/main/highlights/microchannel.html

http://hydrogencommerce.com/images/PNNL_hydrogen-vaporize ...

the second link above is also a photo of their working model. An easy comparison to make is to think of the catalytic converter on your car, they are vary similar in form and function.

No one, to my knowledge is offering the idea of developing these for IC engine powered vehicles. Of course who would want to double their hydrocarbon fuel mileage and cut their CO2 emissions in half at the same time? Certainly not the oil companies...

Once I realized it would be possible to develop these units and offer them as retrofits on every car, truck, ship and train I saw the potential positive impact. Then I wondered if a jet aircraft could be modified to use this same gaseous fuel. After all jet aircraft inject CO2 and water vapor high in the troposphere where both can do the most damage in a climate change sense. So i did some searching there and found a paper which stated that "remember that the DoD actually produced a hydrogen-powered jet engine as early as 1957, indicating that once hydrogen storage issues are resolved, the hydrogen aircraft may become a reality". So yes hydrogen jet aircraft are a realistic possibility and the hydrogen could be produced by an on board reformer and again, this could probably be produced as a retrofit unit.

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0IBO/is_3_30/ai_n1 ...

One problem might be that water weighs 30% more than gasoline and perhaps 20% more than kerosene based jet fuels but the benefits might outweigh the drawbacks there. Unfortunately it seems as though this technology is being held in reserve until fuel cell vehicles are the norm.

Mike Johnston

by enki at 6:01 PM on 22 Dec 2007
[ Parent ]

Thanks!

Interesting...seems like it could be applied for all sortsa things, cars, boats, airplanes, etc. Of course, I do see some problems with it, but if ever introduced and mass-produced at a large level responsibly, it could have many positive applications, I think.

by Tasermons Partner at 8:32 PM on 23 Dec 2007

The comments of Grist users reflect the opinions of those individuals only, and do not necessarily reflect the viewpoints of Grist, its staff, its board members, their psychotherapists, or their aestheticians. Got it?