Diamond Aircraft Austria and its sister company Austro Engine have launched a sustainable aviation fuels development program for Austro Engine-powered aircraft. The pair have been searching for a SAF suitable for Austro Engine’s jet-fuel piston engines in flight. The company is expecting to receive an appropriate certified SAF to start examinations in May.
In order to approve SAF fuels, turbocharged compression-ignition piston engines need both chemical and calorific analyses, as well as investigations on component test stands, engine test stands and flight tests. A specially designed engine test bench with full measurement technology has been installed to measure the cylinder pressures in real-time with crank angle resolution of the mission components for the unburned hydrocarbons, nitrogen oxides, GHG carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide. The test bench fuel supply design allows the quick change of fuels without high circulation losses.
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In order to perform reproducible measurements with different fuels, which can only be found in limited quantities, the integration of a fuel supply system was needed. An analysis of the use of the seven approved SAFs, according to ASTM D7566 Annex 1 to Annex 7, cannot be completed on the specialty Austro Engines. With the lack of availability and special technical concerns, the jet-fuel piston engines used on aircraft like the Diamond DA50, cannot be tested with SAF until an alternative is found.
While waiting for an alternative to test, investigations have been completed to look into an alternative, like regenerative fuels that are certified for road application. Diamond has already made a sustainable effort with their aircraft, like with the all-electric eDA40. SAF is the next step for the company, with hopes to have more aircraft flying on sustainable fuels in the near future.
“Next to the all-electric eDA40, SAF will become a near-term available solution for sustainable aviation,” said Robert Kremnitzer, Head of the Design Organization at Diamond Aircraft Austria. “In the piston engine segment, we have the big advantage that most of our existing fleet is already using jet fuel. With this program, we ensure that sustainable alternatives to this fuel type may be used as soon as they become available at airports with General Aviation fuel stations with no or only minor adaptions to the aircraft.”
Austro Engine has cooperated with Lufthansa Aviation Training, fuel manufacturers, general aviation partners and universities to move forward in SAF research. The company is a partner of the initiative for aviation fuel based on renewable energy aireg (Aviation Initiative for Renewable Energy in Germany e.V.) which is a driving force to transition GA piston engines to SAF.
“We believe the coexistence of several technologies as strategically sensible for General Aviation,” CTO of Austro Engine Felix Zahradnik said. “Diamond Aircraft is currently developing the eDA40, an all-electric training aircraft, which will be certified in the near future. Austro Engine relies on more than 16 years of experience and more than 2.5 million hours flown with their piston engines.”
The DA50, which runs using a jet fuel-powered piston engine
“In addition to further innovations in the field of material science and combustion process development, the key to sustainability lies in the type of fuel used,” Zahradnik said. “By using regeneratively produced fuels, not only can the existing infrastructure be utilized, but also the CO2 balance significantly and directly influenced. The goal of current efforts is clearly the release of sustainable fuels for currently available Diamond aircraft.”
Diamond Aircraft and Austro Engine are anticipating the availability of ASTM D7566 SAF blends as a drop-in fuel for GA in the near future, with plans to unveil an entire fleet for this fuel by late 2025. SAF is expected to saturate the market by 2030 and the availability of 100 percent pure SAFs without blending by 2050.
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