Engineers make jet fuel from water, sunlight and CO2

Process uses a thermochemical reaction driven by concentrated solar energy and Fischer-Tropsch technology

Swiss and German researchers have successfully demonstrated a process that produces liquid hydrocarbon fuels from concentrated solar energy, water and carbon dioxide.

Researchers on the EU-funded Solar-Jet project at Swiss university ETH Zürich developed a solar reactor that uses simulated concentrated sunlight to produce a high temperature. They then used a redox cycle with metal-oxide based materials in the reactor to convert carbon dioxide and water to a syngas of hydrogen and carbon monoxide.

The syngas was then converted into a glass of kerosene using a commercial Fischer-Tropsch technology from Shell.

Professor Aldo Steinfeld, fundamental research and development lead at ETH Zürich said: “The solar reactor technology features enhanced radiative heat transfer and fast reaction kinetics, which are crucial for maximizing the solar-to-fuel energy conversion efficiency.”

“This is potentially a very interesting novel pathway to liquid hydrocarbon fuels using focussed solar power”, said Professor Hans Geerlings at Shell. “Although the individual steps of the process have previously been demonstrated at various scales, no attempt had been made previously to integrate the end-to-end system. We look forward to working with the project partners to drive forward research and development in the next phase of the project on such an ambitious emerging technology.”

According to the researchers, the combined approach has the potential to provide a sustainable and scalable supply of renewable aviation fuel and other transport fuels, such as jet fuel, diesel, gasoline or pure hydrogen directly from concentrated solar energy.

The project is due to finish next summer, by which time researchers plan to have optimised the solar reactor and assessed the potential for commercial-scale applications.

Other research organizations involved in the project include the mobility think-tank Bauhaus Luftfahrt, and the German national aerospace research body Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR).

More information is available at www.solar-jet.aero.