​Technical details:

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• In the present aviation setup, a Los Angeles ↔ Mumbai return air-travel emits a similar quantity of greenhouse gas (GHG) or carbon emissions a car in the USA or UK emits on a yearly basis. The air-travel demand is predicted to double in the next 20 years. The Intergovernmental Panel on climate change (IPCC) forecasts that aviation presently is responsible for 5% of the total man-made climate-change impact, which is estimated to increase to 7% by year 2050.
   

• I have quantitatively evaluated different energy-vectors (batteries, fuel cells, etc.), and alternative fuels [methanol, ethanol, 100% synthetic paraffin kerosene (SPK), liquid hydrogen (LH2), liquid natural gas, and liquid ammonia], for estimating their feasibility for long-range travel (14,000 km) using tube-wing aircraft seating ~300 passengers. I observed that there are limited alternatives to Jet-A such as 100% SPK and LH2 fuel for decarbonizing aviation. LH2 is an ideal fuel because it doesn't contain any carbon, sulfur or volatile compound in it. If burnt in the presence of air, the products of combustion are water vapor and small amounts of NOx. LH2 is a special fuel because it is 2.8 times more energy dense per mass than conventional Jet-A fuel, but the conventional Jet-A fuel is 4.1 times more energy dense per volume compared to LH2. This implies that more volume is required to store the required flight-mission fuel on an aircraft, which is an engineering challenge.
   

• The tube-wing LH2 aircraft consumes ~10% more energy than Jet-A and emits zero carbon and other emissions (except NOx). Additionally, due to the zero-carbon emissions potential of LH2 aircraft during use-phase, I further evaluated different technologies that impact the energy performance of tube-wing LH2 aircraft. I observed that the LH2 tube-wing aircraft could be up to 33% more energy-efficient than present-day Jet-A aircraft. The use of a blended-wing body (BWB) airframe (higher internal volume and improved aerodynamics) could be a promising solution for LH2 fuel, compared to tube-wing aircraft.
   

• Considering the benefits of BWB airframe, I have developed a completely disruptive and game-changing model of a 300-passenger LH2 BWB aircraft for inter-continental travel (14,000 km range), as part of my PhD research at Imperial College London as the President's PhD Scholar. The engineering challenge associated with large volume requirement on-board was successfully solved through disruptive and innovative aircraft design and optimization.
   

• Its energy-efficiency is approximately 50% higher than current Boeing 777-200 LR aircraft. This aircraft emits absolutely ZERO emissions of Carbon dioxide, Carbon monoxide, Sulfur oxides, Soot, Volatile organic compounds, Organic Carbon, Particulate matter 2.5 and 10 in the use-phase of the aircraft. Hydrogen needs to be produced from a cleaner energy source (like renewable energy) to ensure near-zero carbon footprint of a flight on a life-cycle basis. 
   

• Additionally, it produces lesser noise compared to Boeing 777-200 LR aircraft.
   

• Overall, this path-breaking aircraft has near-zero climate-change impacts and has significantly lesser human and other environmental health impacts compared to a Boeing 777-200 LR aircraft.

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Business case:

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• There are in total 1980 aircraft currently in service, that are manufactured by Airbus. These 1980 aircraft belong to the following series: A330, A340, and A350.
   

• Similarly, there are in total 2291 aircraft currently in service, that are manufactured by Boeing. Of the 2291 aircraft, 1426 and 865 aircraft belong to the B777 and B787 series respectively.
   

• Overall, there are in total 4271 aircraft currently in service, each of which service ~300 passengers for long-range (distance) travel.
   

• The price of each aircraft varies between US $200 Million and $450 Million.
   

• Considering a conservative cost of US $250 Million per aircraft, the total valuation of all ~300 passenger long-range aircraft in service is at least US $1057 Billion or ~US $1 Trillion.
   

• The air-travel demand is expected to double in the next 20 years. This will double the quantity of such aircraft in the fleet.
   

• The total valuation of all ~300 passenger long-range aircraft in service will at least be US $2114 Billion or ~US $2.1 Trillion through 2040.
   

• Considering a complete switch from the present aircraft technology to this futuristic hydrogen aircraft technology, this technology has the potential to do a business of US $ 2.1 trillion in the aviation market over the next 20 years.