Turning Sun into Storable Hydrogen. New Prototype Reactor Offers New Green Alternative Energy.

Move over photovoltaics and geotherm get out of the way. Here come the newest form of green energy. Swiss and American researches have developed a new prototype reactor that can utilize sunlight to generate storable hydrogen fuel. The reactor reportedly uses a quartz lens that focuses sunlight into a cylinder lined with cerium oxide (ceria).

When the sun’s rays heat up the ceria, it will thermochemically break down the water and carbon dioxide that is being pumped into the cylinder. The by products are carbon monoxide and hydrogen, which can then be converted into liquid fuel. This hydrogen fuel can then be used with hydrogen fuel cells. Alternatively, the hydrogen-carbon monoxide mixture could be converted into syngas, a combustible gas. Read the whole story from Mobile Mag.