Details of Award
NERC Reference : NE/Z503861/1
Contrails from SAF and H2 combustion; from lab experiments to global mitigation policy
Grant Award
- Principal Investigator:
- Professor G Papadakis, Imperial College London, Aeronautics
- Co-Investigator:
- Professor Y Hardalupas, Imperial College London, Mechanical Engineering
- Co-Investigator:
- Professor AC Maycock, University of Leeds, School of Earth and Environment
- Co-Investigator:
- Dr S Rigopoulos, Imperial College London, Mechanical Engineering
- Co-Investigator:
- Professor AW Schafer, University College London, Bartlett Sch of Env, Energy & Resources
- Grant held at:
- Imperial College London, Aeronautics
- Science Area:
- None
- Overall Classification:
- Unknown
- ENRIs:
- None
- Science Topics:
- None
- Abstract:
- Aviation contributes approximately 3.5% to global anthropogenic radiative forcing and the non-CO2 emissions account for about 2/3 of the net radiative forcing. The relative contribution of aviation is projected to increase in the future as passenger demand increases and other industrial sectors decarbonise. The non-CO2 contribution arises predominantly from the formation of contrails and contrails cirrus clouds that have a net warming effect. Contrails are formed from water vapour condensing on soot particles (and other pre-existing particles in the atmosphere) and the subsequent freezing of water droplets and growth of ice particles. In ice-supersaturated regions, the contrails persist and eventually diffuse into cirrus clouds. Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) and hydrogen (H2) have been proposed as alternatives to the standard jet fuel to reduce CO2 emissions. However, their non-CO2 emissions are currently uncertain (especially for H2) and there is urgent need to understand better the mechanisms of contrail formation from these alternative fuels. Research in this direction is currently at its infancy. Moreover, unlike CO2 emissions, contrail cirrus clouds have short life span (several hours), therefore efforts to reduce non-CO2 emissions will have an immediate cooling effect on the planet. This offers a unique opportunity to rapidly mitigate the effect of aviation to global warming. In the above context, the central objective is to illuminate the entire pathway that links contrail formation from the combustion of alternative fuels all the way up to global mitigation measures and policy recommendations. More specifically, the aims and objectives of the proposed research are as follows: - Perform unique and state-of-the-art experiments to measure contrail ice particle concentration and size distribution in a controlled laboratory setting using advanced optical and laser diagnostics and probes to quantify the effects of fuel type (SAF, H2 and blends thereof with standard jet fuel), ambient temperature and humidity. - Perform cutting-edge Direct and Large Eddy Simulations coupled with Population Balance Modelling to predict the entire ice nucleation process inside the turbulent flow of the exhaust gases and compare number concentrations and ice particle size distribution with the measurements obtained in (i). Perform Large Eddy Simulations at realistic jet engine velocity and temperature conditions. - Assess the impact of the new contrail ice data for different fuel types on global contrail cirrus effective radiative forcing. - Use these findings to generate and model global aviation system scenarios under different CO2 and non-CO2-related policies to provide guidance for policy toward net-zero aviation. To meet the above objectives, we have put together an interdisciplinary team with complementary expertise in all the areas of the project. The team consists of three groups, at Imperial College London (ICL), University College London (UCL) and University of Leeds (ULe). An advisory board with international leading experts from the German Aerospace Centre (DLR), Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the French National Aerospace Research Centre (ONERA) completes the group. The proposal responds to the following themes of the call; Theme 1: Increase understanding of aerosol impact on contrail formation (Task 1.3), and Theme 2: mitigating aviation's non-CO2 impacts using sustainable aviation fuel (Task 2.1) or hydrogen (Task 2.2) and other approaches to mitigating aviation's non-CO2 impacts such as carbon pricing (Task 2.3).
- NERC Reference:
- NE/Z503861/1
- Grant Stage:
- Awaiting Event/Action
- Scheme:
- Research Grants
- Grant Status:
- Active
- Programme:
- Jet Zero
This grant award has a total value of £829,629
FDAB - Financial Details (Award breakdown by headings)
| DI - Other Costs | Indirect - Indirect Costs | DA - Investigators | DA - Estate Costs | DI - Staff | DI - Equipment | DA - Other Directly Allocated | DI - T&S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| £21,995 | £346,285 | £69,952 | £83,734 | £281,903 | £1,600 | £15,860 | £8,300 |
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