In February 2022, Pratt & Whitney was selected by the U.S. Department of Energy to develop novel, high-efficiency hydrogen-fueled propulsion technology for commercial aviation, as part of DoE’s Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (ARPA-E).
P&W call this HySIITE – Hydrogen Steam Injected, Inter?Cooled Turbine Engine. P&W claims its HySIITE engine with steam injection will “dramatically reduce” nitrogen oxide emissions. Steam engines and aircraft go back a long way, in aviation terms. As you will hear in our conversation with two engineers from P&W, that company developed and delivered two hydrogen-powered engines to the Skunk Works several decades ago, during the Cold War.
This story is fascinating. Brent Staubach and Vince Sidwell take us through the thinking.
