While Airbus is finalising its ZEROe project, its American rival Boeing is also investing in hydrogen technologies—specifically fuel cells and liquid hydrogen. Here’s why that matters.

Reported by start-up Hyflux, a recent patent application filed by Boeing in the United States and published in February focuses on a critical challenge for hydrogen aviation: thermal management and fuel control.

One of the main technical hurdles with using liquid hydrogen on board aircraft is keeping it cold enough to remain in liquid form. Any exposure to heat can cause the hydrogen to evaporate (a phenomenon known as boil-off), which increases pressure inside the tanks and can result in fuel loss.

To address this, Boeing proposes a system of integrated components designed to absorb heat and maintain low temperatures. These include valves, evaporators and heat exchangers, all connected through a smart control system that manages fuel flow and cooling in real time.

The goal is to minimise hydrogen loss by automatically regulating temperature, pressure, and hydrogen levels. The design even incorporates a system to recover and reuse evaporated hydrogen, further enhancing efficiency.

This patented concept not only improves autonomy but also helps control the aircraft’s weight—two key priorities in hydrogen aviation.

You can find more details about Boeing’s vision for hydrogen at the HySky conference in Marseille last March.

Are you a LinkedIn user who would like to follow the latest hydrogen news on a more regular basis? Then our LinkedIn weekly newsletter may be what you’re looking for. You can subscribe to it by clicking here. 

PS: You can sign up to our newsletters to follow the latest hydrogen news on a more regular basis:
– “Your hydrogen news live” (to receive all our articles as soon as they are published)
– “Your weekly newsletter” (sent every Monday morning).