Carbon dioxide and water are the primary byproducts of gasoline combustion. Could solar energy be used to reverse this process? At first, it might sound like science fiction, but American scientists are making it a reality.
Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories, part of the U.S. Department of Energy, are developing a groundbreaking system called "Liquid-Solar Fuel." The goal is to convert carbon dioxide into carbon monoxide using concentrated solar power. This process could serve as a foundation for producing liquid fuels such as methanol, gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel. These fuels, made from solar energy and COâ‚‚, are being referred to as "liquid solar fuels."
The system under development includes a reversed ring receiver, a reactor, and a recuperator (CR5). This setup enables the breaking of one carbon-oxygen bond in COâ‚‚, producing carbon monoxide and oxygen through a two-step chemical process. This step is crucial for the broader vision of using sunlight to transform carbon dioxide into usable fuel.
While recycling carbon dioxide has long been considered theoretically possible, many believed it was not economically or technically viable. However, Sandia’s team has designed a practical model that successfully breaks down CO₂ through an efficient two-step method. Their innovation could allow fossil fuels to be used more than once, reducing emissions and slowing the need for new oil extraction.
For instance, after burning coal in a clean power plant, the emitted CO₂ could be captured and converted into carbon monoxide in the CR5 unit. That carbon monoxide can then be used to produce synthetic fuels. The U.S. Department of Defense’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA-E) is also showing interest and is considering funding the project.
One of the most promising aspects of this technology is its compatibility with existing infrastructure. Liquid fuels produced from carbon monoxide can be distributed through pipelines and transported via trucks—just like traditional petroleum-based fuels. Vehicles equipped with standard gasoline or diesel engines can run on these synthetic fuels without modification.
Jim Miller, a key researcher on the project, mentioned that their initial focus is on capturing COâ‚‚ from concentrated sources like power plants and industrial facilities. But the long-term goal is to extract COâ‚‚ directly from the air. In the future, systems capable of pulling carbon dioxide from the atmosphere could lead to truly carbon-neutral liquid fuels.
The team aims to demonstrate the feasibility of the CR5 model and explore how to scale up from small experiments to real-world applications. The prototype is expected to be completed early next year. Once built, the team will first test the decomposition of water into hydrogen and oxygen, followed by the conversion of COâ‚‚ into carbon monoxide and oxygen.
So far, the research team has shown that the chemical process can be repeated without performance degradation over multiple cycles, and the cycle time is sufficiently short for practical use. The next phase involves testing the entire system in a continuous operation setup. This breakthrough could mark a major step toward sustainable energy solutions powered by the sun.
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