Events

In 2021, aviation contributed to over 2% of global energy-related carbon dioxide emissions. Airline companies are exploring ways to become carbon neutral such as the use of hydrogen fuel. Infrastructure must be expanded to make the use of hydrogen fuel in aircrafts a feasible option. 

The use of hydrogen as an alternative fuel source has been proposed as an alternative fuel source for small “hopper” planes that are used on the Oregon coast to get between coastal communities. The purpose of this project was to design and cost a hydrogen infrastructure plan for Tillamook Municipal Airport that takes advantage of the abundance of agricultural waste in the Tillamook area. The proposed system uses biogas from already functional anaerobic digesters located next to the Tillamook airport. The biogas will then be piped to a carbon capture system to remove the carbon dioxide present in the biogas. The scrubbed biogas will then be converted to hydrogen using a modular steam methane reformer. The hydrogen coming from the reformer will be compressed for storage and transported to a fueling system to be loaded onto airplanes. The feasibility of hydrogen production, transportation, storage, and use at this airport was determined.