Solar Tower Produces Jet Fuel Sustainability

Aviation fuel from solar power is one step closer to reality. A new experimental facility in Spain can produce synthetic kerosene from water and CO₂, paving a potential pathway to carbon-neutral aviation.

“For the first time we have demonstrated the entire thermochemical production chain, from water and CO₂ to kerosene, using concentrated solar energy in a fully integrated solar tower fuel plant at a scale relevant for industrial implementation,” says Aldo Steinfeld, a professor of mechanical and process engineering at ETH Zürich and the corresponding author of a new paper published in Joule describing the facility.

Kerosene jet fuel is currently produced from petroleum, but it can also be synthesized from syngas — a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide — via the Fischer-Tropsch process, which has been known for a century. This process typically uses fossil fuels to produce the syngas, often by coal gasification or reforming of natural gas, so it still contributes to greenhouse gas emissions. The challenge is to produce syngas from water and carbon dioxide using solar energy, Steinfeld says. Kerosene synthesized from solar-made syngas emits the same amount of carbon dioxide during combustion as was consumed during its production. According to Steinfeld, solar syngas could enable carbon-neutral jet fuel if the carbon dioxide feedstock were pulled from the atmosphere, a process the researcher has already demonstrated at a mini-refinery at ETH Zürich...