'Drop-in fuels from sunlight and air' with Prof Aldo Steinfeld

Past Event

Date
29 November 2022, 5:00pm - 6:15pm

Location
Oxford Martin School & Online
34 Broad Street (corner of Holywell and Catte Streets), Oxford, OX1 3BD

Event Recording:

Developing solar technologies for producing carbon-neutral transportation fuels has become a global energy challenge, especially for the long-haul aviation sector.

A promising solution are drop-in fuels produced from H2O and CO2 − synthetic alternatives for petroleum-derived liquid hydrocarbons such as kerosene, gasoline or diesel, which are compatible with the worldwide existing infrastructures for fuel distribution, storage, and end-use.

Professor Aldo Steinfeld, Chair of Renewable Energy Carriers at ETH Zurich, will describe the design and operation of the solar refinery for producing drop-in fuels from sunlight and air, which sets a technological milestone towards the industrial production of sustainable aviation fuels.

Steinfeld Aldo

Professor Aldo Steinfeld
Chair of Renewable Energy Carriers, ETH Zurich

Aldo Steinfeld is Professor at the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering of ETH Zurich, where he holds the Chair of Renewable Energy Carriers.

His fundamental research focusses on high-temperature heat/mass transfer phenomena, multi-phase reacting flows, thermochemistry and functional redox materials. These are applied in the development of technologies for concentrated solar power and solar fuels production, direct air capture of CO2 and its utilisation, energy storage and sustainable energy systems.

His contributions to science and education have been recognised with the European Research Council’s Advanced Grant (2012), the International Solar Energy Society’s Farrington Daniels Award (2013), the Heat Transfer Memorial Award (2013), the American Society of Mechanical Engineers’ Kreith Energy Award (2016), and the American Institute of Chemical Engineers’ Sustainable Engineering Research Award (2022). Professor Steinfeld is member of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences. www.prec.ethz.ch