EU Project Uses Sun to Turn Water and CO2 Into Jet FuelUS Navy also recently turned seawater into jet fuel. An EU-funded research project called SOLAR-JET has produced the worlds first solar jet fuel from water and carbon dioxide (CO2). Researchers have for the first time successfully demonstrated the entire production chain for renewable kerosene, using concentrated light as a high-temperature energy source. The project is still at the experimental stage, with a glassful of jet fuel produced in laboratory conditions, using simulated sunlight. However, the results give hope that in future any liquid hydrocarbon fuels could be produced from sunlight, CO2 and water. European Commissioner for Research, Innovation and Science Mire Geoghegan-Quinn said: This technology means we might one day produce cleaner and plentiful fuel for planes, cars and other forms of transport. This could greatly increase energy security and turn one of the main greenhouse gases responsible for global warming into a useful resource. The process In a first step concentrated light simulating sunlight was used to convert carbon dioxide and water tosynthesis gas (syngas) in a high-temperature solar reactor (see picture above) containing metal-oxide based materials developed at ETH Zrich. The syngas (a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide) was then converted into kerosene by Shell using the established Fischer-Tropsch process. Background The four-year SOLAR-JET project was launched in June 2011 and is receiving 2.2 million of EU funding from the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development (FP7). The SOLAR-JET project brings together research organisations from academia and industry (ETH Zrich, Bauhaus Luftfahrt, Deutsches Zentrum fr Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR), Shell Global Solutions and management partner ARTTIC). In the next phase of the project, the partners plan to optimise the solar reactor and assess whether the technology will work on a larger scale and at competitive cost. Finding new, sustainable sources of energy will remain a priority under Horizon 2020, the seven-year EU research and innovation programme launched on Jan. 1, 2014. In the call Competitive Low-Carbon Energy published on December 11 last year, the Commission proposed investing 732 million over two years in this area. The call includes a topic on the development of the next-generation technologies for biofuels and sustainable alternative fuels. Press release source: 