DeltaHawk Studies Hydrogen Power

DeltaHawk Engines announced today that it is launching an effort to run its two-stroke, four-cylinder compression-ignition engine on hydrogen. The company says that it has “recently completed advanced simulation analysis of a new, hydrogen-fueled variant of its engine family for multiple markets. These tests have demonstrated DeltaHawk’s highly adaptable engine architecture is suitable for hydrogen fuel.”

While most hydrogen-powered vehicles have used fuel cells—where the a combination of hydrogen and oxygen are used to create electricity—the DeltaHawk initiative will use a variation of its existing piston engine. “The use of proven internal combustion engine (ICE) technology with hydrogen fuel replaces more expensive, highly infrastructure-reliant, fuel cell systems,” says the company. “A hydrogen-fueled internal combustion engine also has higher tolerance for hydrogen impurities compared to fuel cells and, importantly, allows leveraging of the existing depth of ICE manufacturing knowledge and extensive service networks.”

“Environmental responsibility is a foundational pillar of our company” said Christopher Ruud, Chief Executive Officer of DeltaHawk. “In the general aviation industry, our family of engines are creating a highly reduced net carbon footprint coupled with airborne lead removal, thanks in large part to their fuel efficiency and capability to burn next generation sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). Now, with our planned ability to expand our engine family to include variants that will utilize hydrogen fuel in aviation, commercial and military applications, we’ve taken another major step toward environmental sustainability, climate neutrality and a zero emissions future.”

No timeline has been given. DeltaHawk, which showed off its recently FAA-approved DHK180 at AirVenture last summer, has also begun a program with Bearhawk to produce a firewall-forward kit for the Model 5.