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Paul Wittwer
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Axial flow electric motors with superconducting windings will have 3 times the power to weight of jet engines and would marry well with cryo hydrogen storage. The bottleneck is fuel cells, with much higher specific energy and energy density required for that system to work.
cujet: electric drive is not limited to 350mph. The Tupelov TU-114 achieved speeds of 540mph, similar to turbofan jets and used a turboprop with power to weight of a little over 3.8kw/kg. Radial flux electric motors have achieved 15kw/kg and will achieve 20kw/kg with superconducting windings. True, batteries aren't there yet but PEM fuel cells and cryo-compressed hydrogen are.
No mention in the analysis of the retirement of coal and petroleum carriers by 2050. Coal, oil and gas make up around 40% of global shipping, much of it becoming redundant if the world decarbonises as it needs to. https://chinadialogueocean.net/9192-global-shipping-industry-asset-stranding/
Coal, oil and gas comprise around 40% of maritime trade so the demise of that part of shipping alone would result in a huge reduction of it's emissions. Ammonia is already shipped all over the world so I don't see a problem with using it as fuel with the proper precautions. I see hydrogen, split from ammonia using membrane technology, fueling Solid Oxide fuel cells, generating electricity for High Temperature Superconductor motors for future shipping. Hopefully, the same technology will replace fossil fuels in aviation even sooner.
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Oct 26, 2019