Solar energy-driven liquid-based direct air capture with CO2 utilisation to produce sustainable aviation fuel: modelling, simulation and performance assessment

Climate change and global warming pose significant threats to our environment due to the increasing concentration of CO2 in the atmosphere. To address these challenges, renewable energy-powered direct air capture (DAC) combined with CO2 utilisation offers a sustainable pathway for decarbonisation within a circular economy. Despite its potential, current liquid-based DAC (L-DAC) technology relies on natural gas combustion to provide the high-temperature heat needed for calcination, which limits its overall sustainability and carbon reduction potential.

This work proposes a novel solar-driven L-DAC process design combined with CO2 utilisation to produce carbon-neutral jet fuel. Specifically, the design features a 1 Mt CO2 per year solar-driven L-DAC system using a hydrogen-fluidised solar calciner. The solar-driven L-DAC system utilises the captured CO2 and fluidised hydrogen for onsite conversion into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) via a one-step direct CO2-Fischer-Tropsch synthesis (FTS) approach.