Turbotech and Safran test first hydrogen-powered turboprop for light aircraft

Turbotech and Safran have successfully tested the first hydrogen-fuelled gas turbine engine for the light aircraft market, conducted at the ArianeGroup’s Vernon test facility in France. Although the initial trial was conducted using gaseous hydrogen, a second phase will see the engine powered by a cryogenic liquid storage solution (developed by Air Liquide) to ‘demonstrate the end-to-end integration of a propulsion system replicating all functions on a complete aircraft’. “This first experiment carried out using a Turbotech TP-R90 regenerative turpobrop engine shows we can convert previously proven internal combustion technologies to create a working zero-carbon solution for general aviation,” said