Credit: Justin T. Tran et al.
Researchers at the University of Colorado have published their findings and novel method for the production of syngas in an environmentally friendly way. The new method relies entirely on solar energy, providing a sustainable energy production method for use in fuels and chemical production.
The study, published in Joule, demonstrates a new method of producing hydrogen or syngas. Traditionally, hydrogen was created using electrolysis to split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen. The methods developed by the researchers instead take a “thermomechanical” approach, utilizing solar ray energy to drive the reaction.
Scientists have demonstrated the potential to complete the reaction in this way in the past, however a commercially viable method has evaded scientists until now. The novel method proposed by the researchers at the University of Colorado utilizes inexpensive and abundant materials to construct an apparatus that can conduct the reactions at high pressure. Despite previous belief that dissociation of the hydrogen and oxygen molecules is independent of pressure, the researchers have demonstrated that by conducting the reaction at high pressure the yield more than doubles, creating a commercially viable production technique.
The researchers believe this discovery provides an efficient and sustainable method for the creation of hydrogen, or syngas, that is commercially viable and could have real world applications. “The way I like to think about it is some day when you go to the pump you’ll have, for example, unleaded, super unleaded and ethanol options, and then an additional option being solar fuel, where the fuel is derived from sunlight, water and carbon dioxide,” said Kent Warren, co-first author. “Our hope is that it will be cost-competitive to the fuels sourced from the ground.”