Advent Technologies has provided its membrane electrode assembly technology to Stralis Aircraft in Australia for the development of a hydrogen electric Beechcraft Bonanza demonstrator.

Emory De Castro, Chief Technology Officer at Advent Technologies, says: “We continue to work closely with the team at Stralis on their next generation high temperature (HT-PEM) fuel cells for their hydrogen electric propulsion system. Advent’s HT-PEM membrane electrode assembly is an integral part of the fuel cell and our technology enables the engines to be efficiently cooled with smaller radiators that reduces weight and drag on the aircraft.”

Stuart Johnstone, Chief Technology Officer and Co-founder of Stralis Aircraft, says: “We are proud to be working with Advent in the USA to develop our fuel cell system for aircraft. Thanks to this tech, our system is significantly lighter than existing alternatives, which is what is needed for aircraft. We enable aircraft to fly more than ten times further than battery-electric solutions at a lower cost than fossil-fuel-powered planes. We are already testing our hydrogen-electric propulsion system on the ground and plan to achieve first flight of our six-seat technology demonstrator aircraft later this year.”

Hydrogen-electric propulsion systems have fewer moving parts and run at lower temperatures than conventional engines, with predicted maintenance savings of 40-60%. They can replace batteries on existing electric aircraft and eVTOLs, retrofit into piston or turboprop aircraft, or serve as auxiliary power units on larger aircraft.

Advent CEO Gary Herman adds: “Our membrane technology is unsurpassed and offers a versatile clean energy solution across multiple industries including aviation, marine, automotive and defence.”