Publication date: 21st July 2025
Solar-driven thermochemical cycles offer a promising pathway for high-temperature renewable fuel production. This two-step process begins with concentrated solar power reducing a ceramic oxide at elevated temperatures (1500 ºC). In the second step, H₂O and/or CO₂ are introduced at lower temperatures (1000 ºC), re-oxidizing the material and generating H₂ and/or syngas. Alternatively, an isothermal approach using tubular membrane reactors enhances heat recuperation, making the process more efficient. In this setup, one chamber of the ceramic membrane facilitates water and CO₂ splitting, while the other releases lattice oxygen. Additionally, temperature can be lowered (900 ºC) by using reductant gas, such as methane. This will allow the production of syngas on both sides of the membrane reactor, via the methane partial oxidation reaction.
Within the EU SOMMER project, we have undertaken a systematic material selection to find alternatives to state-of-the-art cerium oxide. Our preliminary assessment identified strontium titanate perovskites as promising alternatives to CeO₂ when operating at 900 ºC. To validate these materials, disc membranes were fabricated and their oxygen permeation measured under several operational conditions (varying temperature and sweep gas flows) and their catalytic activity for methane partial oxidation and CO2 splitting. We found that the oxygen permeation was improved by adding porous catalytic layer of SrTi0.65Fe0.30Ni0.05O3-δ. Interestingly, post-mortem characterization showed the formation of exsolved (Ni-Fe) nanoparticles on the methane side of the membrane. This indicated that the in situ exsolution of nanocatalyst could have helped in boosting the methane partial oxidation reaction synergistically with the catalytic layer.
The results presented here contribute to the advancement of ceramic oxides for hightemperature solar-driven membrane reactors, opening new possibilities for efficient and scalable renewable fuel production.
SOMMER is funded by the European Union under Grant Agreement Number 101118293
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