Correction: Methodology to Assess Emissions and Performance Trade-Offs for a Retrofitted Solid Oxide Fuel Cell Hybrid and Hydrogen Powered Aircraft

Hydrogen (H2) combustion and Solid Oxide Fuel Cells (SOFC) have the potential to mitigate aviation-induced greenhouse emissions in comparison to kerosene propulsion. This paper describes a methodology to assess the performance and emissions trade-offs of retrofitting an aircraft employing conventional kerosene powered propulsion, with H2-combustion and SOFC hybrid powered lower emission alternatives. The proposed framework presents a constant range approach analysis to design a liquid hydrogen fuel tank that satisfies insulation, sizing, center of gravity and power constraints. Such liquid hydrogen tanks are utilized to compare the performance of H2-combustion powered and SOFC hybrid powered aircraft flying the same range. A lifecycle assessment for greenhouse emissions and contrail formation effects are examined to evaluate potential carbon footprint mitigation. A cost analysis is also modeled to examine the consequences of implementing such a retrofit. A sample case demonstration of the proposed framework on a Cessna Citation 560XLS+ is presented. The trade-offs of implementing the mentioned alternative fuel sources show an overall aircraft mass decrease of 5% for the H2-combustion case while the SOFC hybrid system showed an increase in mass of 17.87%. However, at the trade-off of removing three passengers for the same flight, the overall lifecycle of green hydrogen for the H2-combustion and the SOFC hybrid resulted in a 50.78% and 73.12% reduction in CO2 lbs of emissions when compared to the conventional Jet-A fuel emissions. Fuel cost is reduced by 20.10% per flight when replacing kerosene combustion with SOFC hybrid powered by gray H2. The results from implementing this methodology show that retrofitting an aircraft to fly with these alternative fuels could potentially lower carbon emissions at a reduced cost of fuel per flight, for the trade-off of removing a few passengers for the same range.