Aerospace Sustainability: Rolls-Royce CTO Grazia Vittadini for the 2022 Boeing Distinguished Lecture

Good afternoon everybody. I'm really moved and touched by your kind introduction, Todd. Dear Bill, dear Purdue students, faculty, friends and guests, it's such a privilege to be here to deliver the William E. Boeing Distinguished Lecture. This lecture series has featured leading figures of aerospace. I feel humbled to follow in their steps. I am also honored to be speaking at an institution with such rich history in aerospace pioneering, like Purdue's School of Aeronautics and Astronautics, one of the leading aerospace research institutions worldwide. Purdue's Women in Engineering program, established in 1969, was the first of its kind in the nation, and now women enrollment in engineering has risen from less than 1% to 26%. However, women are still underrepresented in engineering and technology jobs, and we need to do more to encourage girls and young women to embrace engineering careers. A true inspiration is Amelia Earhart, who was a counselor here at Purdue and championed women in aviation. She wrote 'The Fun of It,' encouraging women to take flight lessons. Earhart embodies courage, determination, and a pioneering spirit that we need today more than ever. William Boeing was also a visionary whose passion led to the world's largest aerospace company. Our industry connects the world, but it also contributes to climate change. Aviation emissions need to decline by 8% every year for 30 years to meet Paris Agreement goals, while demand for air travel is increasing. Sustainability is a business imperative. At Rolls-Royce, we focus on three fields: improving efficiency, leveraging sustainable aviation fuels (SAF), and exploring third-generation technologies. On efficiency, our UltraFan demonstrator offers 25% more fuel efficiency than first-generation Trent engines, with technologies that operate beyond melting temperatures. SAF can reduce CO2 emissions by 80%, but it requires certification for 100% use, scaling production, and ensuring it is truly sustainable through direct air capture and green hydrogen. We aim to demonstrate 100% SAF compatibility by 2030. Third-generation technologies include hydrogen combustion and electric propulsion. Hydrogen faces storage challenges and requires cryogenic tanks, infrastructure, and cross-industry collaboration. We are partnering with EasyJet to test hydrogen combustion. For shorter distances, hybrid-electric and all-electric propulsion can reduce emissions and noise. We are partnering with airframer Tecnam and airline Widerøe to deliver an all-electric commuter aircraft by 2026, and with Hyundai for fuel cell solutions. Aviation plays a vital role connecting people, and we must strive for sustainable solutions. The challenge is enormous and requires collaboration across academia, industry, financiers, and governments. As graduates of Purdue, you are the pioneers of tomorrow. In the words of Amelia Earhart, 'There's more to life than being a passenger.' Let's take that seat front left and pilot change together. Thank you.

This is a very good question. And indeed, what you're getting into is the concept of life cycle assessment, which is becoming absolutely of vital importance to our industry. Because it's not just the emissions, it's not just what do you do with the products once they've done what they were supposed to be doing. It's the whole, absolutely the full cycle. There's material like composite material for instance, which is particularly challenging to recycle. And this is also where we must look into technologies to help us do exactly that. I have seen pilot projects using pyrolysis to recuperate the carbon out of CFRP material whilst generating heat, which then can be used with electrolyzers to generate electricity. So indeed it doesn't stop at technology applied to our products, but it's also technology applied to manufacturing and to methods to recycle the material our products are made of.

Well, yeah, absolutely. So the focus currently, and specifically the regulatory focus for scope three what we need to disclose in our financial and non-financial reporting as companies, is all centered on CO2. But indeed we know there are other types of emissions like NOx, like contrails, also particulate. So every single solution I've highlighted reduces one or the other, but we need to continue holistically considering all of them. And to some extent there still is a lot of research, academic research, to be done to understand certain mechanisms like contrail formation – is it a heating or cooling effect depending on altitude? So there still is a lot to be understood scientifically. And we need to absolutely, as you rightly point out, consider the full scope. And to follow up with that, are there any improvements on hydrogen oxides? Improvement on nitrogen oxide? Yes, depending on the – for instance, by continuing to improve the combustion systems. Typically, pre-mixing fuel and air in clever ways before ignition is a way to control NOx emissions. So in particular, combustor technologies are very much at the heart of controlling that phenomenon.

Absolutely. Well, for me, artificial intelligence, machine learning, high performance computing, and perhaps one day quantum technologies and quantum computing are fundamental enablers which will help us accelerate on whatever our endeavor is, including certainly the sustainability challenge. So high performance computing and algorithmic or quantum algorithmic approach can certainly, when blended in the right percentage, help us solve very complex optimization problems. In aircraft and engine design, optimization is definitely something we know is of the essence. So it's enablers which will enable us to go faster and be more relevant in our conclusions and visions. So yes, it's a component we must not forget. Great. Thank you.