SUN-to-LIQUID the progress of solar fuel

Now the fuel generated through solar concentration is not impossible, since Sun to Liquid is a project developed at the Institute of IMDEA Energy that, together with other companies in the European Union, this program is carried out where, from the solar concentration, CO2 and water, are transformed to generate fuel that can be used in aviation and the naval sector.

Next, we leave you this article developed by the IMDEA Energy Institute of Spain where they explain the progress of this project:

“The transition from fossil fuels to renewable fuels is one of the most important challenges we face for the future. The SUN-to-LIQUID project addresses this challenge with the objective of producing renewable fuels for transport from water and CO2 using concentrated solar energy. The project, which receives funding from the EU and Switzerland, has just successfully demonstrated the first synthesis of solar kerosene. The solar technology on which SUN-to-LIQUID is based and its integrated chemical plant have been experimentally validated under real operating conditions relevant to its industrial development,”

Says Prof. Aldo Steinfeld of the Zurich ETZ, who leads the development of the chemical reactor used in the solarized thermochemical process.

“This technological demonstration could have important consequences for the transport sector, especially for long-distance aviation, as well as for the naval sector, since they depend totally on the refueling of liquid fuels,” announced the project coordinator, Dr. Andreas Sizmann from Bauhaus Luftfahrt, “We are now a little closer to living in a system based on renewable energy generation instead of burning our fossil energy heritage. It is a necessary step to protect our environment. ”

From the laboratory to the solar field

In the previous European project, called SOLAR-JET, the base technology was developed and the first aviation-scale turbine fuel production tests were carried out. The SUN-to-LIQUID project has carried out the change of scale of the technology for the realization of the first tests with real solar radiation in a solar tower. To carry out this demonstration, a solar concentration plant has been built located in the IMDEA Energy Institute of Móstoles, Spain. As explained by Dr. Manuel Romero of IMDEA Energy, “There is a field of heliostats, mirrors that always follow the position of the sun, which manages to concentrate 2,500 times the solar radiation – three times more than the concentration used in the commercial solar towers commonly used to produce electricity. ” This intense flow of solar energy, which has been verified by the flow measurement system developed for this project by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), allows temperatures of more than 1,500 ° C to be reached inside the solar reactor located at the top of the tower. The solar reactor, developed by the Zurich ETH, produces synthesis gas, a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, from water and CO2 through a thermochemical reduction-oxidation cycle. Subsequently, said gas is transformed into kerosene in-situ by means of a chemical gas-to-liquid transformation plant that has been developed by the Dutch company Hygear.

Unlimited supply of environmentally sustainable fuel

Compared with fossil aviation turbine fuels, net CO2 emissions into the atmosphere can be reduced by more than 90%. In addition, since the solarized process uses abundant resources and does not compete with food production, it can be applied to meet future global fuel demand without replacing the current infrastructure for distribution, storage and use of liquid fuel.

Project Data

SUN-to-LIQUID is a four-year project that receives funding from the Horizon 2020 research and innovation program of the European Union and the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research and Innovation (SERI). The project began in January 2016 and will end on December 31, 2019. In the SUN-to-LIQUID consortium, European research centers and companies in the field of thermochemical production of solar fuels congregate, such as ETH Zurich, IMDEA Energy, DLR , Abengoa and HyGear Technology & Services BV The project coordinator, Bauhaus Luftfahrt e.V., is also responsible for techno-economic technology analysis. ARTTIC supports the research consortium in the work of management and communication ”.

Source: https://www.energia.imdea.org/eventos/2019/hito-mundial-produccion-de-combustible-solar-sun-liquid-produce-queroseno-solar-partir 

Date: September 10, 2019