{"id":64179,"date":"2019-06-19T06:52:41","date_gmt":"2019-06-19T04:52:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/?p=64179"},"modified":"2019-06-17T16:00:29","modified_gmt":"2019-06-17T14:00:29","slug":"carbon-neutral-fuel-made-from-sunlight-and-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/carbon-neutral-fuel-made-from-sunlight-and-air\/","title":{"rendered":"Carbon-neutral fuel made from sunlight and air"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Researchers from ETH Zurich have developed a novel technology that produces liquid hydrocarbon fuels exclusively from sunlight and air. For the first time worldwide they demonstrate the entire thermochemical process chain under real field conditions. The new solar mini-refinery is located on the roof of ETH\u2019s Machine Laboratory building in Zurich.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div class=\"BorlabsCookie _brlbs-cb-youtube\"><div class=\"_brlbs-content-blocker\"> <div class=\"_brlbs-embed _brlbs-video-youtube\"> <img class=\"_brlbs-thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-content\/plugins\/borlabs-cookie\/assets\/images\/cb-no-thumbnail.png\" alt=\"YouTube\"> <div class=\"_brlbs-caption\"> <p>By loading the video, you agree to YouTube's privacy policy.<br><a href=\"https:\/\/policies.google.com\/privacy?hl=en&amp;gl=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Learn more<\/a><\/p> <p><a class=\"_brlbs-btn _brlbs-icon-play-white\" href=\"#\" data-borlabs-cookie-unblock role=\"button\">Load video<\/a><\/p> <p><label><input type=\"checkbox\" name=\"unblockAll\" value=\"1\" checked> <small>Always unblock YouTube<\/small><\/label><\/p> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div><div class=\"borlabs-hide\" data-borlabs-cookie-type=\"content-blocker\" data-borlabs-cookie-id=\"youtube\"><script type=\"text\/template\">PHA+PGlmcmFtZSBsb2FkaW5nPSJsYXp5IiBzcmM9Imh0dHBzOi8vd3d3LnlvdXR1YmUtbm9jb29raWUuY29tL2VtYmVkL3MxLXNvYVpuNEIwIiB3aWR0aD0iNTYwIiBoZWlnaHQ9IjMxNSIgZnJhbWVib3JkZXI9IjAiIGFsbG93ZnVsbHNjcmVlbj0iYWxsb3dmdWxsc2NyZWVuIj48L2lmcmFtZT48L3A+<\/script><\/div><\/div>\n<p>Carbon-neutral fuels are crucial for making aviation and maritime transport sustainable. ETH researchers have developed a solar plant to produce synthetic liquid fuels that release as much CO<sub>2<\/sub> during their combustion as previously extracted from the air for their production. CO<sub>2<\/sub> 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 subsequently processed into kerosene, methanol or other hydrocarbons. These drop-in fuels are ready for use in the existing global transport infrastructure.<\/p>\n<p>Aldo Steinfeld, Professor of Renewable Energy Carriers at ETH Zurich, and his research group developed the technology. \u201cThis plant proves that carbon-neutral hydrocarbon fuels can be made from sunlight and air under real field conditions,\u201d he explained. \u201cThe thermochemical process utilises the entire solar spectrum and proceeds at high temperatures, enabling fast reactions and high efficiency.\u201d The research plant at the heart of Zurich advances ETH\u2019s research towards sustainable fuels.<\/p>\n<h3>A small demonstration unit with big potential<\/h3>\n<figure id=\"attachment_64173\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-64173\" style=\"width: 245px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-64173\" src=\"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/image.imageformat.fullwidth.284158596-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"The research plant is located on the roof of the ETH building on Sonneggstrasse. \u00a9 ETH Zurich \/ Alessandro Della Bella\" width=\"245\" height=\"163\" srcset=\"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2019\/06\/image.imageformat.fullwidth.284158596-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2019\/06\/image.imageformat.fullwidth.284158596-600x400.jpg 600w, https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/media\/2019\/06\/image.imageformat.fullwidth.284158596.jpg 931w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 245px) 100vw, 245px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-64173\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The research plant is located on the roof of the ETH building on Sonneggstrasse. \u00a9 ETH Zurich \/ Alessandro Della Bella<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The solar mini-refinery on the roof of ETH Zurich proves that the technology is feasible, even under the climate conditions prevalent in Zurich. It produces around one decilitre of fuel per day. Steinfeld and his group are already working on a large-scale test of their solar reactor in a solar tower near Madrid, which is carried out within the scope of the <a href=\"www.sun-to-liquid.eu\" target=\"_blank\">EU project sun-to-liquid<\/a>. The solar tower plant is presented to the public in Madrid at the same time today as the mini-refinery in Zurich.<\/p>\n<p>The next project goal is to scale the technology for industrial implementation and make it economically competitive. \u201cA solar plant spanning an area of one square kilometre could produce 20,000 litres of kerosene a day,\u201d said Philipp Furler, Director (CTO) of Synhelion and a former doctoral student in Steinfeld\u2019s group. \u201cTheoretically, a plant the size of Switzerland \u2013 or a third of the Californian Mojave Desert \u2013 could cover the kerosene needs of the entire aviation industry. Our goal for the future is to efficiently produce sustainable fuels with our technology and thereby mitigate global CO<sub>2<\/sub> emissions.\u201d<\/p>\n<h3>Two spin-offs already<\/h3>\n<p>Two spin-offs already emerged from Aldo Steinfeld\u2019s research group: <a href=\"http:\/\/synhelion.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Synhelion<\/a>, founded in 2016, commercializes the solar fuel production technology. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.climeworks.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">Climeworks<\/a>, founded already in 2010, commercialises the technology for CO<sub>2<\/sub> capture from air.<\/p>\n<h3>How the new solar mini-refinery works<\/h3>\n<p>The process chain of the new system combines three thermochemical conversion processes: Firstly, the extraction of CO<sub>2<\/sub> and water from the air. Secondly, the solar-thermochemical splitting of CO<sub>2<\/sub> and water. Thirdly, their subsequent liquefaction into hydrocarbons. CO<sub>2<\/sub> and water are extracted directly from ambient air via an adsorption\/desorption process. Both are then fed into the solar reactor at the focus of a parabolic reflector. Solar radiation is concentrated by a factor of 3,000, generating process heat at a temperature of 1,500 degrees Celsius inside the solar reactor. At the heart of the solar reactor is a ceramic structure made of cerium oxide, which enables a two-step reaction \u2013 the redox cycle \u2013 to split water and CO<sub>2<\/sub> into syngas. This mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide can then be processed into liquid hydrocarbon fuels through conventional methanol or Fischer\u2013Tropsch synthesis.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Researchers from ETH Zurich have developed a novel technology that produces liquid hydrocarbon fuels exclusively from sunlight and air. For the first time worldwide they demonstrate the entire thermochemical process chain under real field conditions. The new solar mini-refinery is located on the roof of ETH\u2019s Machine Laboratory building in Zurich. By loading the video, [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","nova_meta_subtitle":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5572],"tags":[15787,15883,13312],"supplier":[277],"class_list":["post-64179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bio-based","tag-carbonneutral","tag-hydrocarbon","tag-solar","supplier-eidgenoessische-technische-hochschule-zuerich-eth-zuerich"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64179","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64179"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64179\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64179"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64179"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64179"},{"taxonomy":"supplier","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/renewable-carbon.eu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/supplier?post=64179"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}