Solar Upgrading of Hydrocarbons

Solar reactor in the lab of Prof. Aldo Steinfeld und doctoral student Philipp Furler at ETHZ (Zurich, Switzerland). This lab has done a lot of work on solar thermochemistry, including the solar upgrading of hydrocarbons.

Hydrocarbon fuels can be upgraded by various heat sources in endothermic processes. In other words, the calorific value of a liquid (bio-)fuel can be increased by solar thermal input. Gaseous fuels can similarly solar-upgraded via such endothermic processes (e.g. solar reforming or cracking of methane biogas). One example of this is the conversion of methane to methanol using concentrated sunlight. Source of methane can be biogas or syngas. Methanol is a fuel that is liquid at room temperature and can be used in an internal combustion engine. It is increasingly popular in China to power vehicles.

Related pages on OSE Wiki

• Heliostat
• ?

External Links

• Wikipedia: Fossil Fuel Reforming
• Report from SolarPaces (comprehensive): Solar Fuels from Concentrated Sunlight
• Solar Technology Laboratory, Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI)