The SOLAR-JET project was launched in 2011 and completed in 2015, and received €2.2 million of European Union funding from the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7).
The core of the SOLAR-JET project is a two-step solar thermochemical process. In a first step, carbon dioxide and water are converted in a synthesis gas (a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide) in a high-temperature solar reactor containing metal-oxide based materials. The syngas is then converted into kerosene using the established "Fischer-Tropsch" process.
The aim of the project is to demonstrate the full process at laboratory scale and further assess the technology gaps, as well as the technological and economic scalability.
SOLAR-JET scientific approach includes the following steps: