Texas A&M Researchers Work to Find Jet Fuel Alternatives

Through a NATO sponsorship, a team of aerospace engineering researchers will start testing hydrogen-based alternatives that produce vapor and steam instead of carbon dioxide when they burn.

Texas A&M Engineering Experimentation Center, Bryan, TX

Aerospace engineering professor Dr. Paul Cizmas will lead a team of researchers on campus who will test alternative methods of powering jet engines this year. The team settled on hydrogen as the best option due to its chemical structure. It creates vapor and steam when it burns, as opposed to traditional jet fuel that releases carbon dioxide.

Hydrogen also releases three times as much energy per kilogram of fuel. These characteristics make it an ideal fuel source for spaceships, which require an immense amount of energy to make it past Earth's atmosphere. The research is sponsored by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) in hopes to find cleaner alternatives in war zones.