MTU Intends to be First With Cleaner, Quieter Jet

Whether through the market pressures of fuel prices or the regulations imposed by governments, the time will eventually come when the current jet engine technology is deemed to be not efficient enough. When that moment comes, MTU Aero Engines' president and CEO Dr. Klaus Steffens is determined that his company will be ready.

That, Steffens told Show News, will be recuperative technology. The principle is already well established where gas turbines are used statically as power sources. Exhaust heat is passed through an exchanger and made to contribute to useful output. The challenge now is to adapt lightweight equivalent technology for the air.

The prize will be an aircraft engine operating at maximum thermal and propulsion efficiency, using less fuel; emitting less CO2 and NOx; and generating only half of today's noise. Work already conducted with Snecma, Volvo, Fiat and research institutes has determined that geared turbofans lend themselves most readily to such improvements.

Steffens anticipates that if the EC maintains its funding of current research, such an improved engine could be perfected by MTU and its associates and running in 15 years-ten if the market or the legislators demand it. Officially, the project is in the technology evaluation stage, but in the words of the proverb, where there is a will, there is a way.

By Paul Jackson