液化天然气作为航空燃料的发展趋势及特点分析

为研究液化天然气(LNG)作为航空燃料的可行性,对LNG的特点、发展趋势及作为航空燃料存在的问题进行了分析.采用了横向比较的方法,将LNG与新的航空替代燃料和传统航空燃料进行了比较和计算分析.结果表明:与新的航空替代燃料相比,LNG具有来源广泛、经济性好、发动机适应性强等优点.与传统航空燃料相比,LNG的储量大,可使用100年以上;可燃极限宽、污染物排放低,NOx排放仅为航空煤油的1/4;单位质量能量密度高、成本低,其燃料成本仅为航空汽油的一半,航空煤油的1/3;同时还具有可用于发动机高温部件冷却用的冷能,是一种极富潜力的航空燃料.指出在LNG作为航空燃料方面急需开展动力系统与飞机结构的匹配、燃料相态的有效转化及不同燃料在燃烧室内的反应特性等方面的研究工作. 

Development trend and characteristics of liquefied natural gas as the aviation fuel

The characteristics, development trend and existing problems of liquefied natural gas(LNG)as aviation fuel were analyzed. The differences among LNG, new and traditional aviation fuels were compared and analyzed by using the method of horizontal comparison in order to study the feasibility of LNG as the aviation fuel. The results showed that LNG had the advantages of wide source, good economy and strong adaptability compared with the new aviation substitute fuels. Compared with the traditional aviation fuel, LNG had large reserves which can be used for more than 100 years; it also had the advantages of wide flammability limit, low emissions of NOx only accounting for 1/4 of aviation kerosene; LNG had high energy density and lower cost, as the fuel cost is only half of the aviation gasoline and 1/3 of aviation kerosene. As a highly potential aviation fuel, LNG also can be used for cooling high temperature components of engine with cold energy. It was also pointed out that many work had to be done on matching power system with the aircraft structure, effectively transforming the fuel phase and researching the reaction characteristics of different fuels in the combustion chamber if LNG was used as an aviation fuel.