Oh So BeautHyFuel: hydrogen-fuelled light aircraft engine ground tested
January 15, 2025
Turbotech, Safran and Air Liquide have successfully ground tested the first liquid hydrogen-fuelled gas turbine engine for the light aircraft market: part of the consortium’s BeautHyFuel project, and building on earlier tests using the fuel in its gaseous form.
Led by regenerative turbine and propulsion systems manufacturer Turbotech and light aircraft manufacturer Elixir Aircraft, also partnering on the project are Safran, Air Liquide and Daher, who together are aiming to explore hydrogen propulsion solutions for light aircraft and a method for its certifiable retrofit. The BeautHyFuel project is supported by France’s Director General for Civil Aviation (DGAC).
This most recent demonstration builds on a previous test accomplished in January 2024, which used gaseous hydrogen to perform what Safran described as “an initial characterisation of the engine”. More recently, the powerplant was coupled to a cryogenic liquid storage system developed by Air Liquide to “demonstrate the end-to-end integration of a propulsion system replicating all functions on a complete aircraft”.
VP of hydrogen systems at Safran Pierre-Alain Lambert explained that “this second stage marks the successful culmination of the project,” having demonstrated that “a complete high-tech propulsion system with zero carbon emissions in flight is possible and that it can be directly integrated into light aircraft”.
Testing was undertaken at Air Liquide’s Grenoble Technologies Campus in southeast France, with Air Liquide Advanced Technologies VP Xavier Traversac praising the “close collaboration between the various industry players”. With the joint research project having only been formed in 2022, “the project has been a complete and rapid success, thanks to a remarkable team effort by the aerospace majors and SMEs involved,” added Turbotech CEO Damien Fauvet.
