Liquefied natural gas aircraft: a life cycle costing perspective

Motivated by concerns over rising costs of Jet-A fuel and the current limitations of 'drop in' fuel substitutes, it is proposed that the biomethane (or Bio-LNG) provides a promising sustainable aviation fuel alternative. Following consideraiton of aircraft configuration alternatives and performance issues, a concemptual design is presented where cryogenic methan is stored in both an insulated wing-box and under-wing pods. It is concluded that the weight penalty of such a cryogenic fuel system would be relatively modest, hence the range and payload capability of existing Jet-A aircraft can be matched. This paper presents the results of a Life Cycle Costing (LCC) study on operation LNG-based aircraft.