Jet fuel from sunlight and air could decarbonise the aviation industry

By Anthony King2021-11-09T13:30:00

A photo showing a large parabolic dish lined with silvery mirrors. The system is sitting on an urban rooftop, a number of large period buildings can be seen in the background. It's a fine day with bright blue skies.

Source: © ETH Zürich/Alessandro Della Bella

Larger versions of rooftop refinery could satisfy global demand for kerosene – if the sector commits to technological changes

Swiss researchers have turned sunlight and air into fuel in a rooftop refinery – the first of its kind . They estimate that covering an area slightly bigger than Switzerland in larger versions of their solar plant could satisfy the global demand for aviation fuel.

‘Our objective is to produce carbon neutral fuels for transportation, particularly the aviation sector, because that is perhaps the most difficult to decarbonise,’ says team leader Aldo Steinfeld of ETH Zurich.