Sun-to-liquid

About

Founded in 2016, Sun-to-liquid is a ngo specializing in Solar, Hydrogen.

Sun-to-liquid is a four-year Horizon 2020 research project (grant agreement No 654408) led by DLR's Institute of Solar Research, in collaboration with Abengoa and other partners. The project scales up solar thermochemical fuel production from a 4 kW laboratory setup to a 50 kW pre-commercial demonstration plant. The technology uses concentrated solar radiation to drive a high-temperature redox cycle based on non-stoichiometric cerium oxide, converting water and CO₂ into synthesis gas (H₂ and CO), which is then processed via Fischer-Tropsch synthesis into drop-in liquid hydrocarbon fuels (kerosene, gasoil, naphtha). Previous laboratory demonstrations achieved 291 stable redox cycles producing 700 liters of high-quality syngas, which was successfully converted to Fischer-Tropsch synthetic paraffinic kerosene certified for aviation. The field demonstration integrates the complete production chain from sunlight through to liquid fuel output, targeting solar-to-syngas energy conversion efficiencies exceeding 30%.

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