Transportation accounts for more than a quarter of the world’s energy consumption and most of that is in the form of ordinary gasoline. Jet fuel, which is primarily composed of kerosene, accounts for about 6% of refinery production worldwide but contributes about 12% of CO2 emissions. Jet fuel is also a big part of airlines’ operating costs. As a result, there are good reasons to seek sustainable and economical alternatives.
The European Union has funded a project known as SOLAR-JET, which seeks to demonstrate the feasibility of an entire production chain for making renewable kerosene that utilizes sunlight, water and carbon dioxide. Such a process, if it could be done on a large scale and economically, would revolutionize the future of aviation.
Recently, the SOLAR-JET project has demonstrated a process that uses concentrated sunlight to convert carbon dioxide and water into a substance known as syngas. Syngas is a combination of hydrogen and carbon monoxide. From that point, there is an existing commercial process that converts syngas into kerosene.
The novel solar reactor technology for producing syngas is at an early stage of development, but holds great promise as a method for maximizing the efficiency of converting solar energy into liquid fuel. Processing syngas into kerosene is already being deployed at an industrial scale.
Weaning ourselves off of fossil fuels is a complex and diverse challenge. We have some answers for replacing gasoline in our cars. This European project provides a promising path to replacing jet fuel with liquid fuel from the sun.
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Synthesized ‘solar’ jet fuel: Renewable kerosene from sunlight, water and carbon dioxide
Photo, posted May 22, 2008, courtesy of Bill via Flickr.
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Earth Wise is a production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio.