“Scientists at ETH Zurich have built a plant that can produce carbon-neutral liquid fuels from sunlight and air.” This plant can produce synthetic liquid fuels that release as much CO2 during combustion as was extracted from the air for production previously. “CO2 and water are extracted directly from ambient air and split using solar energy.” This produces a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide which is then processed into kerosene, methanol, or other hydrocarbons.

The hope is to enable sustainability in the aviation and maritime transport industries and this research has been carried out in a mini solar refinery for over two years. “This plant successfully demonstrates the technical feasibility of the entire thermochemical process for converting sunlight and ambient air into drop-in fuels.” They are now ready to bring this technology to the aviation and maritime industries.

Innovations like this continue to move the industry forward and help the environment as well. At Pragmatyxs, we are excited to see groundbreaking discoveries within the industries we work alongside and look forward to watching this new technology evolve.