Operations Research 2025
Abstract Submission

2247. Optimising a Hydrogen Refuelling Infrastructure on Airports: Heuristic Solutions to the Liquid Hydrogen Aircraft Refuelling Problem

Invited abstract in session TC-1: Aircraft refuelling and air-rail timetable synchronization, stream Mobility, Transportation, and Traffic.

Thursday, 11:45-13:15
Room: Audimax

Authors (first author is the speaker)

1. Jörn Serrer
Institute of Production Management, Leibniz University Hannover

Abstract

In order to achieve the European Union's goal of being climate-neutral in all sectors by 2050, the aviation sector must provide alternative fuels to fossil jet fuel. Alongside synthetic jet fuel, so-called Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAFs) for long-haul flights, liquid hydrogen for short and medium-haul flights is a promising energy source for green aviation. While SAFs will be able continue to use the existing jet fuel infrastructure, a second new infrastructure must be built at existing airports for liquid hydrogen. Similar to current jet fuel refuelling infrastructure, a bowser based refuelling system is the more cost-effective system for small and medium-sized airports, while large airports have a cost advantage in supplying fuel with an underground pipeline and hydrant network. However, a lack of space limits the number of bowsers that can be loaded simultaneously at a central fuelling depot, while the loading of liquid hydrogen takes considerably longer than with jet fuel. The loading of bowsers could represent an operational bottle-neck for an individual airport, which could require an airport to establish an underfloor fuelling system before cost benefits are realised. An instance generator is presented, before in a discrete Liquid-Hydrogen-Aircraft-Refuelling-Problem (LH2-ARP), the dimensions of the bowser refuelling system needed to serve aircraft with the required amount of liquid hydrogen at a given time are investigated by varying key parameters and solved by using heuristics.

Keywords

Status: accepted

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