The United States is moving into the research and development of a futuristic fuel technology called “solar fuels,” with $112 million in monetary awards for top scientists in its program.
The idea for solar fuels is derived from plant photosynthesis, the process by which plants use solar energy to manufacture sugars converted to other compounds as “food.”
Through the “innovation hub,” a group of teams of multidisciplinary scientists that would be working on the goal, the United States will develop an integrated solar energy-to-chemical fuel conversion system which they hope to commercialize later.
The Joint Center for Artificial Photosynthesis will be led by the California Institute of Technology and the Department of Energy's Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.
The center will do research on discovering components necessary for making a complete artificial photosynthetic system. This includes light absorbers, catalysts, molecular linkers and separation membranes.
“The ultimate objective is to drive the field of solar fuels from fundamental research, where it has resided for decades, into applied research and technology development, thereby setting the stage for the creation of a direct solar fuels industry,” the energy department said.
The project will be funded at up to $22 million this fiscal year, and by $25 million every year afterwards for the next four years.
"Finding a cost-effective way to produce fuels as plants do – combining sunlight, water, and carbon dioxide – would be a game changer, reducing our dependence on oil and enhancing energy security,” said energy deputy secretary Daniel Poneman.
“This Energy Innovation Hub will enable our scientists to combine their talents to tackle this bold and highly promising challenge."
The solar fuels innovation hub is one of three that will receive funding in 2010. In May, the Department announced that a team led by Oak Ridge National Laboratory will establish a Hub on modeling and simulation for nuclear reactors. The last hub will be revealed in the coming months.
If the R and D is successful, the hub will develop scale-up strategies to move from the laboratory toward commercial viability.
"With this award, some of California's top scientists will continue to lead the way forward by working together to create 'artificial photosynthesis,' a process that can emulate the inner workings of plant life to produce a useful transportation fuel we can put right into our cars without further processing,” said California Senator Dianne Feinstein.
