THE WORLD’S first industrial plant using solar heat to make fuels has been opened in Germany. Using a vast array of mirrors that focus the sun’s heat onto a tower, the technology’s developer Synhelion plans to use its process to produce greener fuel for planes, ships and cars, and even low-carbon cement.
  • @threelonmusketeersEnglish
    13•4 days ago

    The key chemistry bit:

    The receiver heats a gaseous heat transfer fluid which circulates in a closed loop, delivering the high-temperate process heat to the thermochemical reactor and the thermal energy store. In the reactor, CO2, water vapour, and methane sourced from biowaste are heated with the solar energy over a catalyst which produces a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen known as syngas. This is then piped down the tower to a Fischer-Tropsch unit which converts it into a synthetic crude which a refinery would then process into kerosene for planes, diesel or methanol for ships and trucks, and petrol for cars.

    Fischer-Tropsch process

    • @[email protected]
      14•4 days ago

      Super cool. Chemical fuels (hydrocarbons or even plant oils) have ridiculous energy density, which is nice for e.g. cars but absolutely crucial for fast, long-range air travel. I don’t think we’ll be saying goodbye to jet engines for a long time, and it’s awesome that we have ways of making fuel in a somewhat sustainable fashion.

      The US Navy has experimented with this, but I think the idea is to use nuclear power instead of solar energy. Makes sense for an aircraft carrier with a big reactor and thirsty jets.