{"id":29755,"date":"2023-04-19T15:00:11","date_gmt":"2023-04-19T14:00:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=29755"},"modified":"2023-04-19T14:58:59","modified_gmt":"2023-04-19T13:58:59","slug":"sun-to-x-creating-carbon-free-liquid-fuel-energy-storage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/sun-to-x-creating-carbon-free-liquid-fuel-energy-storage\/29755\/","title":{"rendered":"Sun-To-X: Using solar energy to produce a carbon-free liquid fuel"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Sun-To-X project<\/a> focuses on using solar energy to produce a carbon-free, non-toxic, energy-dense, liquid fuel for use in transport and energy storage.<\/h2>\n

Significant progress has been made in recent years toward the production of electricity from renewable energy<\/a>. However, the production of chemical fuels, which currently make up around 80% of the energy we consume (IEA, World Energy Balances, 2020), from renewable energy is more challenging. The development of green production methods of chemical fuels, where renewable energy is stored in chemical bonds, such as hydrocarbons and hydrogen, is critical as a way to buffer the intermittent energies (such as wind and solar), key in supporting the national or international transport of energy, and useful in providing energy to remote or decentralised locations.<\/p>\n

To tackle this challenge, Sun-To-X has been funded by the European Union\u2019s Horizon 2020 programme and is a consortium of nine partners comprised of Research and Technology Organisations (RTOs), industry, and Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The project started in September 2020 and is planned to conclude in February 2024.<\/p>\n

A decarbonisation of the fuel chain<\/h3>\n

The Sun-To-X project aims to explore a new value chain for chemical energy storage (Fig. 1). As a first step, solar energy is used to produce hydrogen from ambient humidity or rain, as a water feedstock. This hydrogen is then reacted through a thermochemical process with a recyclable silicon-oxide-based precursor to form HydroSil \u2013 a carbon-free, non-toxic, energy-dense liquid fuel, which can be directly applicable in the transport and energy sectors.<\/p>\n

The HydroSil molecule is stable for more than one year, making it suitable for long-term storage of renewable energy. We then explore another use for HydroSil in the reductive depolymerisation of waste plastic towards the development of a circular economy. For all of the processes in this value chain, the consortium has focused on the use of abundant materials to minimise its environmental impact.<\/p>\n

The project has the following key technical objectives:<\/p>\n