- 1ONERA, Multi-physique pour l'énergétique, ONERA, Palaiseau, Palaiseau, France (margaux.vals@onera.fr)
- 2AIRBUS, Toulouse, France (katharina.seeliger@airbus.com)
- 3Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Oberpfaffenhofen, Germany
- 4Safran Aircraft Engines , Villaroche, France
Alternative aviation fuels represent a promising approach to reduce contrails climate effect. In the frame of VOLCAN (“VOL avec Carburants Alternatifs Nouveaux”) project (DGAC funding, collaboration with AIRBUS, Safran Aircraft Engines and DLR, financed by Neofuels), the influence of Sustainable Alternative Fuels (SAF) composition on exhaust plumes emission, and therefore on contrails, is investigated using the 1D detailed microphysical code MoMiE (Modèle Microphysique pour Effluents) developed at ONERA1,2. The VOLCAN measurement campaigns have been able to provide estimations of ice particle number emission indexes within contrails formed by different fuel types (classical kerosene Jet A-1 and biofuel HEFA) and different combustion modes (“rich” and “lean” burn). These are complementing the observations obtained for Sustainable Alternative Fuels with Emission and “CLimate Impact of alternative Fuels” (ECLIF) campaigns3,4, recently compared to the results of the “Aerosol and Contrail Microphysics” (ACM) model developed at the University of Albany5.
In its most recent version ONERA’s code MoMiE has been adapted to Sustainable Alternative Fuels (SAF)2. It includes heterogenous freezing with soot activation by sulfur and organic species, as well as homogeneous freezing of liquid droplets of hydrated sulfates and organics, accounting for the competition between both nucleation modes. Chemiionization, brownian coagulation of particles, ice sublimation and condensation are also represented. The code computes the different aerosols distributions (size and number) of sulfates, organics, dry soot, activated soot, and ice particles, homogeneously (no solid nucleus) and heterogeneously (soot solid nucleus) formed.
The work proposed here aims first at presenting and analyzing the results obtained with the model in comparison to some of the VOLCAN measurements. The sensitivity of contrail formation to the different fuel types, combustion modes and emission characteristics, as ion emission index, which is known to play a significant role in the coagulation process, are studied. The model is also confronted to the ECLIF measurements3,4 and the microphysics model results from University of Albany5. Advancement and results of this study will be presented and discussed during the conference.
1Vancassel X. et al., Numerical simulation of aerosols in an aircraft wake using a 3D LES solver and a detailed microphysical model, International Journal of Sustainable Aviation, 2014
2Rojo C. et al., Impact of alternative jet fuels on aircraft-induced aerosols, Fuel, 2014
3Voigt C. et al., Cleaner burning aviation fuels can reduce contrail cloudiness, communications earth & environment, 2021
4Märkl R. S. et al., Powering aircraft with 100% sustainable aviation fuel reduces ice crystals in contrails, Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics, 2024
5Yu F. et al., Revisiting Contrail Ice Formation: Impact of Primary Soot Particle Sizes and Contribution of Volatile Particles, Environmental Science & Technology, 2024
How to cite: Vals, M., Bonne, N., Ortega, I., Seeliger, K., Renard, C., Voigt, C., Sauer, D., Märkl, R., Dischl, R., Kaufmann, S., Harlass, T., Marsing, A., Roiger, A., Greslin, E., and Roche, A.: Modeling the formation of contrails produced by SAF emissions, EGU General Assembly 2025, Vienna, Austria, 27 Apr–2 May 2025, EGU25-8217, https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-egu25-8217, 2025.
