From sunlight to jet fuel: EU project makes first ‘solar’ kerosene
28 Apr 2014 10:41 AM
An EU-funded research project called SOLAR-JET has
produced the world's first "solar" jet fuel from water and carbon
dioxide (CO2). Researchers have for the first time successfully demonstrated
the entire production chain for renewable kerosene, using concentrated light as
a high-temperature energy source. The project is still at the experimental
stage, with a glassful of jet fuel produced in laboratory conditions, using
simulated sunlight. However, the results give hope that in future any liquid
hydrocarbon fuels could be produced from sunlight, CO2 and
water.
European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and
Science Máire Geoghegan-Quinn said: "This technology means
we might one day produce cleaner and plentiful fuel for planes, cars and other
forms of transport. This could greatly increase energy security and turn one of
the main greenhouse gases responsible for global warming into a useful
resource."
The process
In
a first step concentrated light - simulating sunlight - was used to convert
carbon dioxide and water tosynthesis gas (syngas) in a high-temperature
solar reactor (see picture above) containing metal-oxide based materials
developed at ETH Zürich. The syngas (a mixture of hydrogen and carbon
monoxide) was then converted into kerosene by Shell using the established
"Fischer-Tropsch" process.
Although producing syngas through concentrated solar
radiation is still at an early stage of development, the processing of syngas
to kerosene is already being deployed by companies, including Shell, on a
global scale. Combining the two approaches has the potential to provide secure,
sustainable and scalable supplies of aviation fuel as well as diesel and
gasoline, or even plastics. Fischer-Tropsch derived fuels are already certified
and can be used by existing vehicles and aircraft without modifications of
their engines or of fuel infrastructure.
Background
The
four-year SOLAR-JET project was launched in June 2011 and is receiving
€2.2 million of EU funding from the Seventh Framework Programme for
Research and Technological Development (FP7). The SOLAR-JET project brings
together research organisations from academia and industry (ETH
Zürich, Bauhaus Luftfahrt, Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt
(DLR), Shell Global Solutions and management partner ARTTIC).
In
the next phase of the project, the partners plan to optimise the solar reactor
and assess whether the technology will work on a larger scale and at
competitive cost.
Finding new, sustainable sources of energy will remain a
priority under Horizon 2020, the seven-year EU research and innovation
programme launched on Jan. 1, 2014. In the call Competitive Low-Carbon Energy
published on December 11 last year, the Commission proposed investing €732
million over two years in this area. The call includes a topic on the
development of the next-generation technologies for biofuels and sustainable
alternative fuels.
Project press contact
Dr. Andreas Sizmann
Bauhaus Luftfahrt e.V.
+49 (0)89 307 4849 38
andreas.sizmann@bauhaus-luftfahrt.net