Developing novel, renewable energy solutions for sustainable aircraft from well to wake

Aerospace engineers in The Grainger College of Engineering, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, are working with Boeing to develop novel and renewable energy solutions for the future of aviation from well to wake—that is, from processing raw materials into fuel and developing the best tank/storage solution, all the way to measuring the emissions in the wake of an aircraft.

“The first part of this work is to document the full life cycle of various fuel options,” said Matthew Clarke. “Well-to-tank asks what methods are available to create these fuels and how much emissions those methods create. From there, we will model power and propulsion systems. Phil Ansell leads this first half of the project.”

Clarke said Boeing is actively exploring different technologies to improve the sustainability aspects of their aircraft products.

Recognizing U of I as a leader in engineering research, Boeing approached the university to examine a range of fuel options and is providing funding to help Illinois engineers study the options and suggest solutions.

“I’ll be looking at the next phase, which is tank-to-wake,” Clarke said. “Our primary objective is to develop higher fidelity models of the full propulsion architecture, which allow us to capture the impacts of using various alternative fuels. In so doing, we can investigate the impact on overall aircraft performance and quantify the emissions associated with each respective energy carrier pathway.”

“Boeing is also, of course, interested in how the aircraft will perform with a new type of fuel, but this is not just about aircraft performance. It’s about creating a sustainable ecosystem,” he said. “Do we have enough crops and water? How would biomass fuel affect food insecurity? What emissions are created when you create more fuel?”

Clarke said his part of the project is to research aircraft subsystems—better aircraft engines, battery models, motors, and how they are affected when burning a particular fuel. Last year, he was named one of Forbes' 30 under 30 for the program he developed called RCAIDE to develop the subsystems.

The final task of the project is integration. He and Ansell will combine their work, integrating everything they learned for advanced sustainable aircraft design and submit their ideas to Boeing. Clarke and Ansell will ultimately optimize what they have learned to explore new aircraft.

“We’ll understand new options for energy pathways and the emissions that will be created. Now, we can explore the design so we can provide our insights to Boeing on the type of aircraft they could consider in the future that will have a long-lasting impact.

Boeing also has similar sustainability research partnerships with the University of Cambridge and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, designed to inspire and cultivate a global workforce for aerospace innovation by accelerating skills development and enriching the educational experience for students.