A solar tower fuel plant for the thermochemical production of kerosene from H2O and CO2

Stefan Zoller; Erik Koepf; Dustin Nizamian; Marco Stephan; Adriano Patané; Philipp Haueter; Manuel Romero; José González-Aguilar; Dick Lieftink; Ellart de Wit; Stefan Brendelberger; Andreas Sizmann; Aldo Steinfeld

doi:10.1016/j.joule.2022.06.012

A solar tower fuel plant for the thermochemical production of kerosene from H₂O and CO₂

Joule. 2022 Jul 20;6(7):1606-1616. doi: 10.1016/j.joule.2022.06.012.

Affiliations

¹ Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering, ETH Zurich, 8092 Zurich, Switzerland.
² Unit of High-Temperature Processes, IMDEA Energy, 28935 Móstoles, Spain.
³ HyGear Technology and Services B.V., 6827 AV Arnhem, the Netherlands.
⁴ Institute of Future Fuels, German Aerospace Center (DLR), 51147 Cologne, Germany.
⁵ Bauhaus Luftfahrt e.V., 82024 Taufkirchen, Germany.

Abstract

Developing solar technologies for producing carbon-neutral aviation fuels has become a global energy challenge, but their readiness level has largely been limited to laboratory-scale studies. Here, we report on the experimental demonstration of a fully integrated thermochemical production chain from H₂O and CO₂ to kerosene using concentrated solar energy in a solar tower configuration. The co-splitting of H₂O and CO₂ was performed via a ceria-based thermochemical redox cycle to produce a tailored mixture of H₂ and CO (syngas) with full selectivity, which was further processed to kerosene. The 50-kW solar reactor consisted of a cavity-receiver containing a reticulated porous structure directly exposed to a mean solar flux concentration of 2,500 suns. A solar-to-syngas energy conversion efficiency of 4.1% was achieved without applying heat recovery. This solar tower fuel plant was operated with a setup relevant to industrial implementation, setting a technological milestone toward the production of sustainable aviation fuels.

Keywords: CO2 splitting; ceria; concentrated solar energy; kerosene; redox cycle; solar fuels; solar reactor; sustainable aviation fuels.; thermochemical; water splitting.