Stefan LM have developed new patented system technology that produce solar fuels from captured carbon dioxide with extremely high efficiency.

1. ©copyrightNorbertvanOnna
Sunthetics AB
Fuel production with solar power
Stefan Larsson-Mastonstråle
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2. Sunthetics milestones & history
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R&D project at the Albi University, France
in 2008-2012 (PROMES, RAPSODEE, SOLLAB)
Innovation Award at KIC Germany conference
“Chemical Fuels” in 2014
Technology evaluation at Vattenfall R&D
and KTH, KIC-Innoenergy 2013

3. Parabolic through is the dominating CSP
technology
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4. Sunthetics business idea
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Sunthetics shall offer CO2 recycling of Solar based synthetic liquid
hydrocarbon fuel technology at lower cost than fossil fuel with highest
solar fraction, to the worldwide market.
The solar ”oil well” for our future of energy and climate!

5. Market potential 1
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The market for solar fuels as SUNTHETIC’s S2L for transport,
electricity or heating is amounting to >10 million barrels/day, that
can be replaced by the S2L fuel.
The market will also increase over the years when countries like
China, India and many parts of Africa are developed to a western
style of energy economy, thus increasing the world energy
consumption further.

6. Sunthetics system

7. Sunthetics system

8. S2L efficiency parameters
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1. The S2L technology operates by hybrid solar power (cogeneration)
2. Solar heat and electricity for the process is generated by the ”Tertiary
concentrator” (PROMES in France states its probably the most efficient
solar CSP device ever developed in history)
3. The S2L receiver ( fuel reactor ) operates in ”process integrated mode”
where exothermic heat from the catalyst & solar thermal input assist
the electrolysis endothermic energy consumption
4 Electrolysis is assisted by nanopulsed electric feed* in combination with
high temperatures, thus avoiding the need for H2O conductance
amplification (no KOH needed as in Alkaline electrolysis)
5 Waste heat recovery and media pressure reduction are covered by a
high speed piston expander & water desalination (final process energy
recuparation)
*International Journal of Energy and Environment (IJEE), Volume 3, Issue 1, 2012, pp.129-136

9. Koncentrator simulation model
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10. SUNTHETICS Tertiary heliostat
Concentration solar collector is based on parabolic trough technology
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Electricity from concentrated PV
Methanol reactor
in the receiver tube
The output can be any hydrocarbon or other basic chemical (fertilizer or polymer)

11. CPV technology
(shape of cell front arrange light distribution to Tertiary concentrator)
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Different options of selective transparency beam shaping reflector has been
designed. From experience a solid lens made by the cell encapsulation material
have lowest transmittance losses (exactly same as a standard PV-module).
The water cooler that was designed in 2002 have been tested in other projects.
High solar flux are managed by a combination of back contact and secondary
cell reflector.
Cell
Secondary
reflector
Primary lens
and cell
encapsulation
Concentrator with
reflective cell
and water cooler
assembly

12. SUNTHETICS Receiver tube 1
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Absorber selective surface
Electrical contact surface
Electrolyser assembly
Catalyst carrier tube
The output can be any hydrocarbon or other basic chemical (fertilizer or polymer)

13. 13
SUNTHETICS Receiver tube 2
Pressure valve
(release O2)
Anode/Cathode
contact
Selective surface
Contact surface
between
electrolyser cells
Electrolyser cells
Catalyst tube*
Inconel tube
*Cu/ZnO/Al03 based catalyst or similar CuZnO-based ternary catalysts

14. Receiver reactor cell
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O2
H2O
CO2 H2
CH3OH
(or other)
+ -
CO+CO2
Control:
• Tracker
• Voltage
• Current
• Temperature
• Pressure internal
• Diff through catalyst
• O2 release rate
• Back pressure
(via expander)
High voltage power supply in series and chemical reaction in parallel enable
ample capacity and high efficiency.
Synthesis reaction
exothermic release
are absorbed by the
electrolysis cell.
Thereby lowering
power consumed from
the PV-cell string, and
increasing system
efficiency.

15. Co-electrolysis
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H2O side with high
pressure capability
Design (>250 bar)
H2+CO side with
reduced pressure
loss
• Cathode/Anode area adapted to actual work load and pressure (HP micro tubes)
• H2O side adapted to enable ceramic or polymer electrolyte at elevated pressure
• No damage to electrolyte as its mounted flexible in many short elements
• Extremely low current losses due to the Z-shaped stack envelope design
• Flexible output from electrolyzer enable direct syngas production
A controlled share of CO2 can be
injected at the H2O side to do
Co-electrolysis to H2+CO+CO2.

16. 30 % solar to hydrocarbon efficiency
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The output can be any hydrocarbon or other basic chemical (fertilizer or polymer)

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SUNTHETICS first CHx reactor prototypes
Electrolysis cell and solar receiver (TTE) hydrocarbon reactor connected to
Spectrophotometer analysis system. The receiver can operate at room temperature
in the experimental setup, although high efficiency resides between 275-350C
(large scale systems should operate in the higher temperatures of 300-350C).

18. S2L Economics
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1. The S2L technology economy can be extrapolated from existing CSP based
on parabolic trough.
2. The S2L receiver (fuel reactor) is +50 % more expensive than existing CSP
receiver producing steam rather than methanol (but here its @ 85CR)
3 Solar electricity for the process is generated in a factor of 40 times less
expensive (patented) compared to photovoltaic cells (1,9$/W* for
standard PV are reduced down to 0,1$/W in the Sunthetics system)
4 Integrated chemical processes = recuperative electrolysis/synthesis
(patented), reducing energy consumed by >-30% even before solar
thermal input
5 Waste pressure recovery by steam expander (patented) cover majority of
compression energy in CO2+H2O media feed system
Cost estimation indicates fuel cost may be well below current $/barrel
*USDE/NREL ”Historical, Recent, and Near-Term Projections 2015 Edition”

19. Sunthetics IP
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(“the Larsson-Maston process” patent,
and four other sub-parts patents)
5 patent families and >100 single patents in the portfilio (and growing)

20. ©copyrightNorbertvanOnna
www.kic-innoenergy.com
KIC InnoEnergy receives funding from the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT)
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