Preliminary Sizing of Airport Infrastructures for Refuelling Hydrogen-Powered Aircraft
Lorenzo Trainelli, Gabriele Sirtori, Carlo E.D. Riboldi, Giorgio Filippoli, Stefano Cacciola
Abstract. This paper illustrates a general methodology aimed at coping with the need to preliminarily assess the feasibility, cost and performance of a future commercial aviation system based on hydrogen as the in-flight energy source. The methodology is devoted to the preliminary sizing of the complex airport infrastructure needed to service hydrogen-powered airliners, namely on-site generator and liquefier, storage tank, and dispensing units, providing an optimal solution in terms of acquisition and operating costs, and eventually hydrogen cost “at the pump”. A sensitivity analysis shows how the system performs in off-design conditions, with the price of the various components needing to be shared by a smaller hydrogen production.
Keywords
Hydrogen-Powered Aircraft, Airport Infrastructure
Published online 7/20/2026, 4 pages
Copyright © 2026 by the author(s)
Published under license by Materials Research Forum LLC., Millersville PA, USA
Citation: Lorenzo Trainelli, Gabriele Sirtori, Carlo E.D. Riboldi, Giorgio Filippoli, Stefano Cacciola, Preliminary Sizing of Airport Infrastructures for Refuelling Hydrogen-Powered Aircraft, Materials Research Proceedings, Vol. 69, pp 662-665, 2026
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21741/9781644904251-117
The article was published as article 117 of the book CEAS – AIDAA Conference 2025
Content from this work may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 license. Any further distribution of this work must maintain attribution to the author(s) and the title of the work, journal citation and DOI.
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