Designing and Enabling a Sustainable Business Aviation Ecosystem With Liquid Green Hydrogen: An Essential Overview
Presentation Type
Short presentation 10-15 minutes
In Person or Zoom Presentation
In-Person
Campus
Daytona Beach
Status
Student
Faculty/Staff Department
College of Business
Student Year and Major
PhD candidate
Presentation Description/Abstract
Business aviation is among the most emissions-intensive forms of air travel. Liquid green hydrogen (LGH₂) eliminates point-of-use CO₂ emissions. The sector is a strong early-adoption candidate. Many missions are short and repeatable, operators control fleet and fuel-procurement decisions, clients accept price premiums, and fixed-base operators (FBOs) suit modular, on-airport supply. Yet adoption faces high production costs, energy-intensive liquefaction, boil-off losses, onboard cryogenic tank volume, and immature certification standards. Existing studies examine these barriers in isolation and from a commercial-airline perspective, leaving business aviation without an integrated framework. Through an integrative review, we design a framework-based business model mapping technical, economic, and operational links across five interdependent stages: (i) renewable power, (ii) seawater desalination, (iii) electrolysis, (iv) liquefaction, storage, and transportation, and (v) airport and aircraft end use. Electricity dominates production cost, liquefaction consumes roughly 30% of hydrogen's energy content, and desalination adds negligible cost. LGH₂'s fourfold volume penalty versus Jet-A favors short missions. Enabling levers include low-cost renewable power, electrolyzer scale economies, operator - FBO offtake agreements, and replicable on-airport production. Because the stages are interdependent, designing and enabling a sustainable business-aviation LGH₂ ecosystem requires coordinated investment. The framework informs operators, FBOs, manufacturers, energy providers, and policymakers, positioning business aviation as a proving ground for wider hydrogen adoption.
Keywords
Business aviation, liquid green hydrogen, fixed-base operators, hydrogen value chain, cryogenic storage, net-zero emissions
Designing and Enabling a Sustainable Business Aviation Ecosystem With Liquid Green Hydrogen: An Essential Overview
Business aviation is among the most emissions-intensive forms of air travel. Liquid green hydrogen (LGH₂) eliminates point-of-use CO₂ emissions. The sector is a strong early-adoption candidate. Many missions are short and repeatable, operators control fleet and fuel-procurement decisions, clients accept price premiums, and fixed-base operators (FBOs) suit modular, on-airport supply. Yet adoption faces high production costs, energy-intensive liquefaction, boil-off losses, onboard cryogenic tank volume, and immature certification standards. Existing studies examine these barriers in isolation and from a commercial-airline perspective, leaving business aviation without an integrated framework. Through an integrative review, we design a framework-based business model mapping technical, economic, and operational links across five interdependent stages: (i) renewable power, (ii) seawater desalination, (iii) electrolysis, (iv) liquefaction, storage, and transportation, and (v) airport and aircraft end use. Electricity dominates production cost, liquefaction consumes roughly 30% of hydrogen's energy content, and desalination adds negligible cost. LGH₂'s fourfold volume penalty versus Jet-A favors short missions. Enabling levers include low-cost renewable power, electrolyzer scale economies, operator - FBO offtake agreements, and replicable on-airport production. Because the stages are interdependent, designing and enabling a sustainable business-aviation LGH₂ ecosystem requires coordinated investment. The framework informs operators, FBOs, manufacturers, energy providers, and policymakers, positioning business aviation as a proving ground for wider hydrogen adoption.