Reactor producing fuel out of cerium heated by sunlight explored in new report

In Washington, the journal Science, has published an article by US and Swiss researchers concerning the construction of a reactor that uses cerium heated by sunlight to produce fuel.  The device uses a parabolic mirror to concentrate sunlight on cerium oxide, held in a chamber where it breaks down carbon dioxide and water into carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which can be converted into a number of fuels.  The laboratory scale reactor has been cycles more than 500 times, reaching temperatures of 800 to 1600C.  Haile has stated that improvements as simple as insulating the reactor could as much as triple the efficiency.  Haile envisions two uses for the reactor: one as a storage system for energy, and secondly as a source for transports fuels such as gasoline.  Haile estimates that a rooftop system could produce as much as 21 gallons a week of liquid fuel.

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