Scientists Use Sunlight to Make Fuel From CO2

The Sunlight to Petrol, or S2P, project essentially reverses the combustion process, recovering the building blocks of hydrocarbons. They can then be used to synthesize liquid fuels like methanol or gasoline. Researchers said the technology already works and could help reduce greenhouse-gas emissions.

http://www.wired.com/science/discove...08/01/S2P#=rss

[Haanu]

I have to get this out of my system.

WHERE HAS ALL OF THIS BRAINPOWER BEEN FOR THE LAST 30 YEARS?

Suddenly everyone has a brain. Why oh why has it taken so long to get environmental friendly fuel into the hands of the customer?

I'd think turning sunlight directly into electricity would be a much more efficient use of it.

[Andy]

In other news, plants use sunlight to make fuel from CO2.

[LMagic007]

Still another impressive string to the bow.

[forfi]

Originally Posted by Haanu

I have to get this out of my system.

WHERE HAS ALL OF THIS BRAINPOWER BEEN FOR THE LAST 30 YEARS?

Suddenly everyone has a brain. Why oh why has it taken so long to get environmental friendly fuel into the hands of the customer?

It does say that the thing will take another 15 years to become useful

[LMagic007]

re; Scientists Use Sunlight to Make Fuel From CO2

re; http://www.wired.com/science/discove...08/01/S2P#=rss

He and Stechel said the technology could be 15 to 20 years from viability on an industrial scale.

With that said, once they get there it might be a good way for them to make jet fuel. As someone said, why convert the sun and CO2 to fuel when you can use sun to make electricity directly using PV solar cells. Well that's fine for many applications, but for some applications such as aviation, fuel may be a better option. If you can use it to make fuel then you solve two problems of reducing CO2 and still providing fuel.

I would not be surprised to see this emerge sooner though, given the apparent urgency of the CO2 problem.

[spadlet]

Originally Posted by LMagic007

With that said, once they get there it might be a good way for them to make jet fuel. As someone said, why convert the sun and CO2 to fuel when you can use sun to make electricity directly using PV solar cells. Well that's fine for many applications, but for some applications such as aviation, fuel may be a better option. If you can use it to make fuel then you solve two problems of reducing CO2 and still providing fuel.

This might sound amazingly stupid, but wouldn't solar panels be more efficient on aeroplanes? They spend most of the time that they are in motion above the could cover and (I believe) they always have to fly in a certain direction around the globe (for the time zone issue, but that may be a myth). So they could have a constant source of direct sunlight for most of the time that they require power.

I was thinking that delta wings might be a good combination of aerodynamic properties and solar panel surface, but I can't remember (if I ever knew) whether these wings produce aircraft that are fundamentally unbalanced rather than the balanced systems you need for civil aircraft (or why they are never used for civil aircraft)?

Would the main problems would be the weight to output ratio of the solar panels and power system and the area required to generate enough power?

Any comments to my half-baked ideas? I've not really thought about it much before so will add to it if I come across some more info. I'd love someone to find a solution that meant people could still fly though.

[screener]

It's been a while since I heard of a solar powered flight and that was basically a one passenger glider with really large wings covered with solar cells. With improved structural materials and better collector efficiency recently there might be an opportunity for small commercial planes, a few passengers.

I'd like to hear of any update there might be out there.

[LMagic007]

Yes I just don't think they can generate enough power with large passenger electric aircraft. These steel monstrosities require jet engines, unless you want to go back to the old propeller days of slower speed aircraft. Electric engines would not generate the thrust required for the jet aircraft designs. Light aircraft are a different matter though. It would be interesting to see designs for low speed light commuter electric aircraft. i.e. probably within the speed range of 200 - 300 kph.