If a new public-private partnership has its way, you may see plants turning waste C02 into diesel fuel as soon as 2013.


An alliance of industry, academic and government organizations will work on using concentrated solar energy to convert waste CO2 into diesel. The project team has received a first phase of funding from the National Energy Technology Laboratory to demonstrate these technologies.

The solar reforming technology platform will be located next to industrial facilities that have waste CO2 streams, such as coal power plants, natural gas processing facilities, ethanol plants, cement production facilities and other stationary sources of CO2.

The alliance team members include Sandia National Laboratories, Renewable Energy Institute International, Pacific Renewable Fuels, Pratt Whitney Rocketdyne, Quanta Services, Desert Research Institute and Clean Energy Systems. In addition, commercial partners have signed on to advance work on the first round of commercial plants.

Sandia began working on research, development and demonstration of solar reforming technologies more than 20 years ago, according to Ellen Stechel, recycling CO2 program development lead for Sandia National Laboratories.

A solar reforming system is currently being demonstrated in Sacramento, Calif., and demonstrations will continue both at Sandia's facilities in New Mexico and at a power plant project site in Bakersfield, Calif. Planning for the first round of commercial plants is under way at several locations in the U.S. The project team anticipates that deployment of the first commercial plants can begin in 2013.