Thermochemical Fuels: Solar at Night

Project summary:

One drawback of solar power is its daytime-only availability. The goal of this project is to develop a high-temperature, thermochemical process to harvest solar energy and store it. Faculty and students will collaborate with international experts to develop reactors and also to invent processes to gasify biomass with concentrated solar energy. The new harvesting process would greatly increase the potential uses of solar energy, as it could be transported to where, and saved for when, it is needed. Applied Economics' role in this research is to develop a method for transporting large amounts of biomass from rural areas with limited transportation facilities.