The SUN-to-LIQUID project develops an alternative fuel technology that promises unlimited renewable transportation fuel supply from water, CO2 and concentrated sunlight. The project, which is funded by the EU and Switzerland, can have important implications for the transportation sectors, especially for the long-haul aviation and shipping sectors, which are strongly dependent on hydrocarbon fuels.

Reducing greenhouse gas emissions has become crucial in order to meet the global climate goals. This translates into a sustainable fuel demand for aviation of hundreds of millions of tons per year. As this technology does not require cultivable land, it does not compete with food or feed production. In fact, it has the potential to cover the future fuel demand sustainably at a global scale.

The four-year solar fuels project achieved to bring this radically new technology of synthesizing liquid transportation fuels from the laboratory environment to the field, one step closer to the ultimate aim of a future full-scale commercial plant. The solar fuel plant is located at IMDEA Energy Institute, in Móstoles, Spain and was designed and constructed within the SUN-to-LIQUID project.