The Future of Flight

Ever wondered how else solar energy is used other than to generate electricity? This article states that solar thermochemical energy can be used to lower the costs of jet fuel production, not only economically wise but environmentally wise, as well. It is interesting because solar thermochemical energy is a renewable source of energy because it is not using any fuels from earth itself, but instead using those coming from a natural gas combined cycle power plant. Instead of capturing carbon dioxide from the air, heliostats are used to concentrate and capture solar radiation that then converts oxygen and hydrogen to carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide which is syngas. The syngas is then stored and converted into jet fuel by the Fisher-Tropsch process which is a chemical reaction that converts gas mixtures into many liquid hydrocarbons or fossil fuels. This allows for the environment not to feel like such a burden because fossil fuels are no longer going to be coming from the land but from a power plant, thus making jet fuel production cost less. The trade off to this would be that it would lead to higher greenhouse gas emissions because they are not being taken from the biosphere.

Figure 1: This shows the conversion of solar energy and gas mixtures into jet fuel.

References

Falter, C., Batteiger, V., & Sizmann, A. (2016). Climate Impact and Economic Feasibility of Solar Thermochemical Jet Fuel Production. Environmental Science & Technology Environ. Sci. Technol., 50(1), 470-477. doi:10.1021/acs.est.5b03515

Image: from article.