The heat is channelled to push a two-step thermochemical redox cycle. Water and pure CO2 are injected into a ceria-based redox reaction that turns them simultaneously into hydrogen and carbon monoxideSince it’s all being done in a single chamber, scientists can tweak the rate of water and carbon dioxide to manage the exact composition of the syngas in real-time
A novel solar thermal power plant in Spain is able to produce carbon-neutral and sustainable diesel and jet fuel by absorbing carbon dioxide, water and sunlight.
ETH Zurich
Reported first by New Atlas, the plant runs on concentrating solar thermal energy.
How it works
169 sun-tracking reflector panels, each with three square metres of surface area redirect sunlight into a 16-centimetre hole in the reactor atop the 15 metre tall tower.
The reactor eventually receives around 2,500 suns’ worth of energy or around 50 kilowatts of solar thermal power.
The heat is channelled to push a two-step thermochemical redox cycle. Water and pure CO2 are injected into a ceria-based redox reaction that turns them simultaneously into hydrogen and carbon monoxide. Since it’s all being done in a single chamber, scientists can tweak the rate of water and carbon dioxide to manage the exact composition of the syngas in real-time.
This is then offered to a ‘Glass-to-Liquid’ which is at the bottom of the tower that’s produced in a liquid phase containing 16 percent kerosene and 40 percent diesel, as well as a wax phase with 7 percent kerosene and 40 percent diesel, indicating that the ceria-based ceramic solar reactor is capable of producing syngas pure enough to be turned into synthetic fuels.
The pilot setup was able to produce 5,191 litres of syngas over a nine-day period, however, researchers didn’t really reveal the exact number of kerosene and diesel it was converted into post its processing.
While fuel consumption on a commercial airliner is still in gargantuan proportions, the report highlights that synthetic fuel can be mixed with regular fuel and try to reduce overall emissions in any way possible.
ETH Professor Aldo Steinfeld, the corresponding author of the research paper explains, “We are the first to demonstrate the entire thermochemical process chain from water and CO2 to kerosene in a fully-integrated solar tower system. This solar tower fuel plant was operated with a setup relevant to industrial implementation, setting a technological milestone toward the production of sustainable aviation fuels. The solar tower fuel plant described here represents a viable pathway to global-scale implementation of solar fuel production.”
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