EU FP7-AERONAUTICS and AIR TRANSPORT

Collaborative Project No. 285098

The SOLAR-JET Project
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Key drivers for alternative fuels
Situation: Key drivers of change
Task: Solar kerosene: production, performance, economics
Approach: Inter-disciplinary team, integration of entire fuel chain
Results: - World record of efficiency by material development
- First-ever demonstration of the entire production chain
- Identification of an alternative fuel path with potentially
unlimited long-term technical production volume
- Economic drivers and impact results
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Key drivers for alternative fuels
Limited fossil resources
Climate change
Growing mobility demand
Key question:
Which alternative fuel strategy
offers the best solution for
suitability,
sustainability and
scalability?
Source: IATA, 2013
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Today: No alternative fuel meets all three criteria.
Situation today
Energy carrier Suitability Sustainability Scalability
GTL, CTL
Drop-in capable blend
Fossil carbon release Commercial scale implementation
BTL
Potentially lowcarbon
emission
Feedstock development, logistics and
competition for bio-mass
HEFA
New bio-fuels Drop-in capable blend
Potentially lowcarbon
emission
Feedstock development, logistics and
competition for bio-mass
LNG
Non-drop-in solution
LH
2
Electric power
Non-fuel energy carrier, low
specific energy
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Future perspectives
Energy carrier Suitability Sustainability Scalability
GTL, CTL
Drop-in capable blend
Fossil carbon release Commercial scale implementation
BTL
Potentially lowcarbon
emission
Feedstock development, logistics and
competition for bio-mass
HEFA
New bio-fuels
SOLAR-JET (STL)
Large-scale production less restrictive than
for biofuels
LNG
Non-drop-in solution
Fossil carbon release Existing infrastructure
LH
2
Potentially zero carbon
emission
Distribution and storage
Electric power
Non-fuel energy carrier, low
specific energy
Potentially scalable through diversity and
large-scale plants
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Solar resource & land requirement
Area required for 100% substitution
of European jet fuel demand
High yield production
High energy conversion efficiency
beyond photosynthetic limits
Utilization of production areas with
large solar resource
Large substitution potential
100% substitution at moderate land
requirement!
Mitigates land-use conflicts
8 %
0.7 %
1.7 Mha required area for
100 % jet fuel substitution
1
STL (DNI 2000 kWh/m
2
)
20 Mha required area for
100 % jet fuel substitution
1
BTL (woody biomass)
3
European agricultural area
(2005)
2
: 250 Mha
1
EIA (2008), International Energy Annual 2006,
2
FAO (2010), ResourceSTAT-Land 2005
3
BHL (2010), The Bauhaus Inventory of Energy Crops; Mha: Million Hectare; DNI: Direct Normal Irradiation
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Solar resource & land requirement
Solar fuel production area (left) complementary to BTL fuels (right)
No arable land required, high yields from formerly marginal land
Little overlap with areas of rich bio-diversity
Sources: Trieb, F. et al, Global Potential of Concentrating Solar Power, SolarPaces 2009
Riegel, F. and J. Steinsdrfer, Bioenergy in Aviation: The Question of Land Availability, Yields and True Sustainability, Proceedings of the 3rd CEAS Air&Space Conference 2011
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Process overview
Most process steps already proven on an industrial scale
Lowest technology readiness level for thermochemical conversion and CO
2
capture from air
FT
CO
2
/H
2
O
capt./storage
Concen-
tration
Thermo-
chemistry
Gas
storage
FT
Com-
bustion
Heat
Work
Syngas C
x
H
y
H
2
O CO
2
O
2
Sunlight
H
2
O/CO
2
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Feedstock provision
Seawater desalination
Flash distillation:
Evaporation from salt water
Energy requirement ~ 35 kWh m
-3
Reverse osmosis:
Applied pressure inverts osmotic diffusion process
Energy requirement ~ 2-3 kWh m
-3
Carbon capture
Capture technologies based on chemical and
physical absorption, physical adsorption,
membrane technology and cryogenic separation
http://bmet.wikia.com/wiki/Reverse_Osmosis_Unit
www.climeworks.com/capture_process/
articles/capture_process.html
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Concentration of solar energy
Upper process temperature (1800 K during
reduction) defines required power input and
concentration ratio
Adequate concentration systems
Solar towers
Solar dishes
http://www.dlr.de/sf/de/Portaldata/73/Resources/images/juelich/STJ_max.jpg
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/~wang30y/csp/ParabolicDish.html
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Solar thermochemical syngas production
Two-step solar thermochemical
process to produce syngas
Reduction with oxygen depleted purge
gas at high temperatures (1800 K):
CeO
2
CeO
2-
+ /2O
2
Reoxidation with steam and/or carbon
dioxide at lower temperatures (1000 K):
CeO
2-
+ H
2
O CeO
2
+ H
2
CeO
2-
+ CO
2
CeO
2
+ CO
Syngas is a precursor for solar
kerosene
CeO
2-i
CeO
2-f
Reduction
1800 K
Oxidation
1000 K
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Solar thermochemical syngas production
Two-step solar thermochemical
process to produce syngas
Reduction with oxygen depleted purge
gas at high temperatures (1800 K):
CeO
2
CeO
2-
+ /2O
2
Reoxidation with steam and/or carbon
dioxide at lower temperatures (1000 K):
CeO
2-
+ H
2
O CeO
2
+ H
2
CeO
2-
+ CO
2
CeO
2
+ CO
Syngas is a precursor for solar
kerosene
H
2
and/or CO
Chueh et al., High-Flux Solar-Driven Thermochemical Dissociation of CO
2
and H
2
O
Using Nonstoichiometric Ceria, Science 330, pp. 1797 (2010)
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Impressions from the lab at ETH Zurich
By courtesy of Prof. Steinfeld, ETH Zrich
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Fischer-Tropsch conversion
Gas-to-liquid plants already in large-
scale operation today (e.g. Pearl GTL
in Qatar)
Modular setup of long tubes filled
with catalyst
Jet fuel production: Co-based
catalyst operating at ~200C
Conversion of syngas to
hydrocarbons
Main reaction:
Side reactions produce alkenes,
alcohols, carbon dioxide, hydrogen

2n +1H
2
+nCO C
n
H
2n+2
+nH
2
O

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Impressions from the lab at Shell, Amsterdam
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Fischer-Tropsch products
Heavy product (waxes)
Light product (liquid
hydro- carbons, H
2
O)
Hydrocracked waxes
(incl. jet fuel)
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Next steps towards implementation
Demonstrate SOLAR-JET fuel production with real sunlight
Scale-up of SOLAR-JET reactor technology
Further improve solar-thermochemical energy conversion efficiency
Design of pre-commercial pilot plant
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Acknowledgement SOLAR-JET team
Christoph Falter
Oliver Boegler
Dr. Christoph Jeberger
Dr. Valentin Batteiger
Dr. Andreas Sizmann
Parthasarathy Pandi
Dr. Patrick Le Clercq
Justine Curtit
Dr. Martin Dietz
Daniel Marxer
Philipp Haueter
Dr. Philipp Furler
Dr. Jonathan Scheffe
Prof. Dr. Aldo Steinfeld
Dr. Joanna Bauldreay
Prof. Dr. Donald Reinalda
Prof. Dr. Hans Geerlings
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SOLAR-JET team
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SOLAR-JET team
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Contact and acknowledgment
Dr. Andreas Sizmann
Head of Future Technologies and
Ecology of Aviation
Bauhaus Luftfahrt e.V.
Lyonel-Feininger-Strae 28
80807 Munich
GERMANY
Tel.: +49 (0)89 307 4849-38
Fax: +49 (0)89 307 4849-20
andreas.sizmann@bauhaus-luftfahrt.net
www.bauhaus-luftfahrt.net
www.solar-jet.aero
The research leading to these results has
received funding from the European Union
Seventh Framework Program (FP7/2007-
2013) under grant agreement no. 285098
Project SOLAR-JET.
Bitte besuchen Sie uns am DLR Stand,
please visit us at DLR booth:
Halle 4, Stand 4301, Exponat 1
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Appendix
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Solar fuel pathways
Different solar fuels paths are
technically feasible
Potential economic advantages of
solar-thermal fuel production:
Utilizes the full solar spectrum
Mirrors collect sunlight
Potentially high conversion efficiency
High process temperature
Fast reaction kinetics
No catalysts required for syngas
production
Syngas (H
2
/CO)
Electrochemical Photochemical
Photovoltaic or
Concentrated
Solar Power
Electrolysis
Thermochemical
H
2
O
CO
CO
2
H
2
Fischer-Tropsch
C
x
H
y
Photosynthesis
Artificial
photosynthesis
Thermochemical
redox cycles
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Syngas production
Syngas production at arbitrary H
2
-to-CO ratio
P. Furler et al., Energy Environ. Sci. 5, 6098-6103, 2012
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Syngas production - CO
2
splitting efficiency

solar-to-fuel,average
= 1.73 %

solar-to-fuel,peak
= 3.53 %
P. Furler et al., Energy & Fuels, 26, 7051-7059, 2012
Solar radiation at
reactor facet
Energy in syngas
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Compressor station at ETH
Collect gases from solar reactor
CO
2,
CO, H
2
, Ar
Compress gases in two stages to 150
bar
Ship gas bottle to Shell in
Amsterdam
Dedicated compressor station with
security precautions due to
flammable and toxic gases
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Fischer-Tropsch product distribution
Probability of chain growth can be
adjusted through temperature,
syngas composition, catalyst
composition, pressure
For the production of jet fuel:
0.9, i.e. longer-chained
hydrocarbons are produced
Products are treated to increase the
share of jet fuel
wiki.gekgasifier.com

2n +1H
2
+nCO C
n
H
2n+2
+nH
2
O

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Feedstock provision: Water
Water demand: 3-4 litres for 1 litre liquid fuel
Seawater desalination & pipeline transport:
State-of-the-art desalination: 2-3 kWh/m
3
Pipeline transport: 3,3 kWh/m
3
(500 km, 500 m altitude, 75 cm diameter)
Comparison: Energy content of 1 litre fuel 10 kWh
Moderate amounts of water
Cheap & feasible both in terms of cost & energy required for provision
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Feedstock provision CO
2
Near future:
CO
2
is frequently used in many industries
Sources: By-product e.g. from Ammonia, Methanol, Ethanol production
Mid-term future:
Utilize CO
2
from flue gas capture
Long term future:
Develop truly sustainable CO
2
supply
Sources: Biomass, Water bodies, Carbon air capture
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SOLAR-JET fuel economics
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SOLAR-JET fuel economics
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SOLAR-JET fuel economics
Economics dominated by large
investment cost
Mainly for heliostat field (mirrors)
Energy conversion efficiency decisive
A total path efficiency of ~10% is
required for economic viability
Production cost estimates:
1.85 $/l (Kim 2012)
SOLAR-JET estimate: 1.3 3.1 $/l (2035)
Source: Kim, J. et al, Energy Environ. Sci., 2012
7 $/gge correspond to 1.85 $/litre