Cranfield University receives £69 million in funding for hydrogen fuel research
The University in Bedfordshire is working to evaluate the potential use of hydrogen as net zero aviation fuel
A university in Bedfordshire has received £69 million in investment for hydrogen research.
The funding, which is the largest ever research amount awarded to Cranfield University, will be used to continue their developments of the first large scale hydrogen research hub at any UK airport.
The university is the only one in Europe which has its own airport, research aircraft, and air traffic control facilities.
Cranfield University are utilising the funding to demonstrate the potential of hydrogen as a net zero aviation fuel, which can help meet net zero emissions targets.
£23 million comes from Research England’s Research Partnership Investment Fund (UKRPIF), with a further £46 million committed from industry partners and academic institutions, according to the University.
A target for domestic aviation has been set to achieve net zero emissions by 2040, in the UK government's Jet Zero strategy, which will see hydrogen exploring how the industry can use the fuel at a large scale.
"It will help to build the pathway to net zero emissions aviation"
“This game-changing investment builds on Cranfield’s expertise in hydrogen research and will help the aviation industry to make the leap to using hydrogen,” said Professor Karen Holford CBE FREng, Chief Executive and Vice-Chancellor of Cranfield University.
“CH2i will integrate with other large industry research areas at Cranfield including our novel hydrogen production programmes and our Aerospace Integration Research Centre and the Digital Aviation Research and Technology Centre. Working with research and industry partners nationally and internationally, we will unlock some of the most significant technical challenges around the future development and deployment of hydrogen in aviation. It’s a very exciting prospect for our researchers, partners and for the aviation industry. It will help to build the pathway to net zero emissions aviation.”
Three key infrastructure elements will be included in CH2i; a Hydrogen Integration Research Centre, Enabling Hydrogen Innovation (a Test Area) and Development of Cranfield Airport's infrastructure.