Making aircraft fuel from sunlight and air

Date:
November 4, 2021
Source:
Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies e.V. (IASS)
Summary:
Scientists have built a plant that can produce carbon-neutral
liquid fuels from sunlight and air. The next goal will
be to take this technology to industrial scale and achieve
competitiveness. Researchers now describe how this novel solar
reactor functions and outline a policy framework that would provide
incentives to expand the production of 'solar kerosene'.



FULL STORY ========================================================================== Scientists at ETH Zurich have built a plant that can produce
carbon-neutral liquid fuels from sunlight and air. The next goal
will be to take this technology to industrial scale and achieve competitiveness. In a paper published in the journal Nature, researchers
from Zurich and Potsdam describe how this novel solar reactor functions
and outline a policy framework that would provide incentives to expand
the production of "solar kerosene."

========================================================================== Carbon-neutral fuels are crucial for making aviation and maritime
transport sustainable. The plant developed in Zurich can be used
to produce synthetic liquid fuels that release as much CO2 during
their combustion as was previously extracted from the air for their
production. CO2 and water are extracted directly from ambient air and
split using solar energy. This process yields syngas, a mixture of
hydrogen and carbon monoxide, which is then processed into kerosene,
methanol, or other hydrocarbons.

A team of researchers led by Aldo Steinfeld, Professor of Renewable Energy Sources at ETH Zurich, have been operating the mini solar refinery on the
roof of ETH's Machine Laboratory building in Zurich over the last two
years. "This plant successfully demonstrates the technical feasibility
of the entire thermochemical process for converting sunlight and ambient
air into drop-in fuels. The system operates stably under real-world
solar conditions and provides a unique platform for further research and development," says Steinfeld. The technology is now sufficiently mature
for use in industrial applications.

Desert offers ideal conditions Analyses of the entire process show
that the fuel would cost 1.20 to 2 euros per litre if it were produced
on an industrial scale. Desert regions with high solar resources are particularly suitable as production sites. "Unlike with biofuels,
whose potential is limited due to the scarcity of agricultural land,
this technology enables us to meet global demand for jet fuel by using
less than one percent of the world's arid land and would not compete with
the production of food or livestock feed," explains Johan Lilliestam,
a research group leader at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability
Studies (IASS Potsdam) and professor of energy policy at the University
of Potsdam. If the materials used to build the production facilities,
such as glass and steel, are manufactured using renewable energy and carbon-neutral methods, emissions can be further reduced to close to zero.

Supportive policies needed However, given the high initial investment
costs, solar fuels will need political support to secure their market
entry. "The European Union's existing support instruments -- emissions
trading and offsetting -- are not sufficient to stimulate market demand
for solar fuels. In view of this, we propose the adoption of a European technology-specific quota system for aviation fuel. This would require
airlines to acquire a specific share of their fuel from solar sources," explains Lilliestam.

The study's authors recommend a share of 0.1 percent in the earliest
phase of market adoption, when the price of "solar kerosene" will be
high and production capacities low. This would have little impact on
the cost of flying, but would promote the construction of production
facilities and set in motion a learning curve that could lead to
technological enhancements and lower prices. The quota could then be
gradually increased until solar kerosene achieves a market breakthrough
without further support measures.

========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Institute_for_Advanced_Sustainability_Studies_e.V._ (IASS). Note:
Content may be edited for style and length.


========================================================================== Related Multimedia:
*
Video_and_images_of_the_making_of_'solar_kerosene'_fuel_from_sunlight_and
air ========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Remo Scha"ppi, David Rutz, Fabian Da"hler, Alexander Muroyama,
Philipp
Haueter, Johan Lilliestam, Anthony Patt, Philipp Furler, Aldo
Steinfeld.

Drop-in Fuels from Sunlight and Air. Nature, 2021; DOI:
10.1038/s41586- 021-04174-y ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/11/211104115245.htm

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