Fuel from fresh air and sunlight: are you kidding?

Fuel from fresh air and sunlight: is it possible?

Fuel from fresh air and sunlight: are you kidding?  - image 1040505

Energy source

The use of sunlight as an energy source saves enormous amounts of electricity

The announcements by governments around the world that gasoline and diesel will be phased out in the next ten to fifteen years have accelerated the development of alternative fuels, but none are as noteworthy as the latest ideas from Switzerland.

A project in this country has developed a synthetic gas from nothing but fresh air and sunlight. A miniature solar refinery that produces hydrocarbon fuel stands on the roof of the ETH Zurich Research University.

Fuel from fresh air and sunlight: are you kidding?  - image 1040506

The reactor

Heated by sunlight to 1500 ° C, oxygen is displaced from the collected gases

The process takes hydrogen from the moisture in the atmosphere and carbon from CO2. This is not a new idea, but it differs from the Swiss method in that it does not use huge amounts of electricity to remove hydrogen and carbon, but uses sunlight as part of the process, thereby massively reducing electricity requirements.

First, CO2 and water are removed from the air and fed into a reactor. Sunlight is reflected by a parabolic mirror onto a reflector, which directs the beam onto a solar reactor and heats it to 1500 ° C. This pushes the oxygen out and into the atmosphere, leaving a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide behind. The resulting synthesis gas can be used as the basis for a large number of fuels.

The last stage takes the gas and converts it into liquid methanol. This could then be used to make gasoline or kerosene. The trick is that it is CO2-neutral and only releases as much CO2 as was used for its manufacture.

Fuel from fresh air and sunlight: are you kidding?  - image 1040504

The whole process

An area of ​​45,000 square kilometers would be required to produce enough fuel to power all aviation for a year

At the moment the quantities of synthesis gas produced are tiny, but at least the process has been tried and tested. In order to produce enough fuel for the aviation industry, which currently burns 414 billion liters of kerosene per year, a plant with an area of ​​45,000 square kilometers is required. If it was placed in a desert (lots of sun …!) Like the Sahara, that area only makes up 0.5% of the total area of ​​the Sahara!

And it doesn’t have to be expensive. The scientists involved in the project claim that if solar fuels could make up 10-15% of the market, the cost could be competitive with fossil fuels.

The impending demise of gasoline in our everyday lives acts like a huge catalyst for the development of alternative fuels. Maybe we don’t have to get rid of our beloved, gas-guzzling motorcycles just yet.

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