The Solar Fuels Platform aims to support the development of solar fuel production technologies. Currently, these technologies are at a low maturity level (primarily TRL 1 to 4), with developments mainly focused on individual components.

The challenge is to accelerate the deployment of these new technologies by evaluating their performance in simulated real-world environments.

The conventional approach to advancing technology maturity involves scaling up new components, integrating them into a conversion system, and finally evaluating them in real-world conditions. Here, we propose establishing an instrumented platform that will allow direct characterization of these new components (directly from laboratories, at the scale of a few cm²) within a system emulating the complete chain.

This approach enables us to focus efforts on the limiting factors of these components while considering the surrounding system.

Based on the EASI Fuel demonstrator (Figure 1), this platform can emulate the real-world environment of a solar fuel production system with an output flow of 0.2 L h⁻¹ (standard liters per hour) and control this system.

A data acquisition system allows for the monitoring of all relevant physical and chemical parameters to precisely characterize ongoing transformations in the system, as well as the efficiency of individual components and the overall system.

Basic Solar Fuel Production System

In its basic configuration, the solar fuel production system consists of reference components connected in series:

• A solar panel for the conversion of "photons → electrons."
• An electrolyzer for the conversion of "electrons → gas (H₂)."
• A catalytic reactor for the conversion of "gas (H₂ + CO₂) → fuel (CH₄)."

These reference components will be used to characterize the test bench, validate the data acquisition chain, and control the system. The measured parameters and efficiencies will serve as a reference for future experiments.

Once the test bench and reference system are characterized, the reference components can be replaced by components developed at the CEA or by partners. This will allow for the measurement of their performance within a complete system (innovative solar panels, bioreactors, etc.) and comparison with the reference system.

Emulators for a Controlled and Characterized Environment

To obtain a controlled and characterized environment for analyzing all transformations, the test bench includes the following emulators:

• Solar Emulator: To illuminate the solar panel.
• Electrical Emulator: To provide electrical power in cases where the conversion is purely electrically powered.
• Gas Emulator: To supply the reactor with gases not produced upstream (e.g., CO₂) and deliver gas mixtures representative of specific applications (e.g., by varying the H₂/CO₂ ratio, flow rates, or introducing pollutants).

Contact

For any inquiries regarding access to the platform and/or implementation of your tests, please write to the address below, specifying your needs:

Julien.perard@cea.fr 

​Christine.cavazza@cea.fr

Scientific Manager: Christine Cavazza

Note: Due to site access procedures for users, a minimum notice of 2 months is required.