Honeywell Aerospace and NREL partner to scale hydrogen fuel storage solution

Electric unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are versatile for industrial applications but face performance challenges. A new collaboration is scaling an efficient and long-lasting hydrogen storage solution for UAVs.

The National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) embarked on a year-long collaboration with Honeywell Aerospace in 2023 to prototype and support the commercialization of a novel cartridge-based hydrogen fuel storage solution for UAVs. The project, Fuel Additives for Solid Hydrogen (FLASH) Carriers in Electric Aviation, is a new hydrogen carrier technology developed at NREL within the HyMARC Energy Materials Network and is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy’s Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Technologies Office through DOE’s Technology Commercialization Fund.

FLASH seeks to deliver an alternative approach, in which efficient and long-lasting hydrogen storage is coupled to a fuel cell that continuously converts hydrogen to electricity to power electric UAV flight. That system would enable long-range flights, but without the carbon emissions of combustion engines. It would also enable sensitive drone applications like atmospheric monitoring, where exhaust gases and rumbling engines would reduce performance.

www.nrel.gov