Researchers in Europe disclosed they've successfully created synthetic jet fuel with carbon dioxide, water, and solar energy as a part of the EU’s SUNlight-to-Liquid project aiming to advance solar fuel technology.

Scientists had discovered that air travel causes about 4% of global warming, and it depends heavily on jet fuel or kerosene, a liquid hydrocarbon fuel derived from crude oil.

Presently, there's no clean alternative to power long-haul commercial flights globally. Against this, researchers experimented and announced that they've produced liquid hydrocarbon aviation fuel.

The scientists achieved this with a solar concentrating tower that's filled with 169 solar panels, a gas-to-liquid unit, and a solar reactor. The paper author of the research, Aldo Steinfeld said that jet fuel is carbon neutral due to “the amount of CO2 (carbon) emitted during kerosene combustion in a jet engine equals that consumed during its production in the solar plant." This shows that its effect on global warming is offset.

The experiment has proved the possibility of making jet fuel or kerosene without using fossil fuels, which if burned could release chemicals that cause acid rain and smog in the atmosphere. This carbon-neutral fuel alongside aircraft can be utilized in trucks, ships, and vehicles.

Past attempts to make aviation fuels via solar energy use were mostly done in the laboratory. This experiment is the first that demonstrated the whole thermochemical process chain from water and CO2 to kerosene in an integrated solar tower system.

According to Steinfeld, "With our solar technology, we have shown that we can produce synthetic kerosene from water and CO2 instead of deriving it from fossil fuels. The amount of CO2 emitted during kerosene combustion in a jet engine equals that consumed during its production in the solar plant."

For Steinfeld, that makes the fuel carbon neutral, particularly when CO2 is captured straight from the air as an ingredient.

Why the efforts?

According to the EU, liquid hydrocarbon fuel is ideal for the transportation industry due to its high energy density. As hinted, the project plus the carbon-neutral kerosene came up as the EU wants to be climate-neutral by 2050 and fight climate change that's largely contributed by the aviation sector.

The EU Commission is advising its population to ration gas as the UK experienced unprecedented high temperatures of 104 degrees Fahrenheit in June while forest fires witnessed scorching heatwave across Europe.

In early June, heatwaves in the US put up to 50 million persons under excessive heat warnings, with several places’ heat indexes passing 110 degrees Fahrenheit.

Implementation

It's presently unknown when exactly this research and development would be widely available. However, Steinfeld stated that the first industrial production plant for jet fuel would be launched in 2023 by Synhelion, the spin-off firm of the public university ETH Zurich Switzerland. Swiss International Airlines prepares to be the first ever airline to use carbon-neutral, solar-powered fuel.

References

• Aldo Steinfeld. A solar tower fuel plant for the thermochemical production of kerosene from H2O and CO2. Joule, 2022; 6 (7): 1606 DOI: 10.1016/j.joule.2022.06.012.

• Cell Press. "All-in-one solar-powered tower makes carbon-neutral jet fuel." ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 20 July 2022.