More than just hot air
Cleantech scale-up opens first industrial plant for solar fuel production. Synhelion, which was founded as a spin-off from Switzerland’s Federal Institute of Technology ETH Zurich in 2016, has inaugurated the world’s first industrial plant in which synthetic fuels are produced using solar heat. The Swiss aircraft manufacturer Pilatus is also interested in using fuel from the plant in Jülich (Germany).
Synhelion cited the opening of the facility dubbed ‘Dawn’ on the longest day of the year in the northern hemisphere on June 20 as proof that the technology to produce solar fuels is ready for production on a grand scale.
Synhelion said that these renewable fuels are intended to demonstrate the potential of the technology to de-fossilise the transport sector, and the aviation sector in particular. The commissioning of this plant thus marks “another significant milestone in the ongoing transport revolution.”
The facility consists of a 20 m solar tower and a mirror field. It is the first time that Synhelion has integrated all of the innovations it has developed on an industrial scale. The solar tower contains a solar radiation receiver, a thermo-chemical reactor and a thermal energy storage system that enables cost-effective production of solar fuel around the clock.
Aiming for 1 million t annually
‘Dawn’ will thus demonstrate, for the first time, the entire technology chain from concentrated sunlight to synthetic liquid fuel on an industrial scale. The facility is set to produce several 1,000 l of fuel a year.
The first commercial plant will be built in Spain from next year, and will produce approximately 1,000 t of fuel every year. Even larger ones are set to follow, so that Synhelion will boast an annual production volume of around 1 million t of solar fuel.
Not just for air transport
A few days before ‘Dawn’ opened, Pilatus joined Synhelion as a shareholder. The Swiss aviation company, whose aircraft are already certified for the use of SAF, is thus signalling that it intends to use solar kerosene for its own flight operations and also to offer it to its customers in the medium term.
Synthetic crude oil, which is particularly suitable for transport, is also produced as an intermediate product in the plant in Jülich. It is then processed into certified fuel in a conventional oil refinery. In addition to solar kerosene for aviation, Synhelion can also provide solar gasoline and solar diesel for road and shipping use.