Concentrating Solar Thermal Energy

11Solar Fuel Production by Thermochemical Dissociation of Water and Carbon Dioxide

Stéphane ABANADES and Sylvain RODAT

PROMES-CNRS, Font-Romeu, France

11.1. Introduction

The solar thermochemical production of synthetic fuels without greenhouse gas emission can be achieved using water and carbon dioxide, and concentrated solar power as a source of heat at high temperature. The various solar fuels considered are hydrogen, synthetic gas (with H₂ and CO as main components) and the derived fuels (methanol, synthetic liquid fuels). Hydrogen is an energy vector allowing long-term storage and transportation of solar energy, for its use in direct combustion or in a fuel cell. The use of CO₂ emissions resulting, for example, from industrial processes is also a major challenge, notably for the conversion of CO₂ into synthetic fuel using solar energy. Hydrogen production and CO₂ recycling into liquid fuel can be expected to develop into an economic sector in the medium term. This sector would include three main industrial components:

• – Resources and energy harvesting. Although capturing atmospheric CO₂ is not yet at an industrial stage, many industrial applications already have the potential to provide the CO₂ required for the startup of this sector, this subject being rapidly expanding particularly in terms of CO₂ capture and sequestration. H₂O can be obtained by desalination of seawater. Finally, among the available energy sources, concentrated solar energy has the potential to cover ...