Grad's Work Powered by the Sun

"I feel privileged to work with talented people on cutting edge projects in solar thermo chemistry.
The daily discoveries and progress are tangible,” said Nicolas Piatkowski (MIE 0T5), reflecting on
his PhD studies at ETH Zurich, (the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology).

Piatkowski’s group is one of few in the world investigating how high temperature industrial or chemical processes traditionally powered by fossil-fuels or electricity – such as cement production and coal gasification – could instead be run with concentrated solar radiation as the source of heat.

In the concentrated solar radiation process, a cavity receiver is irradiated with a solar flux often exceeding 5,000 Suns, rapidly producing temperatures in excess of 2000K. At these temperatures, petcoke, charcoal and coal can be reacted with steam to produce synthesis gas, cement lime can be fired, and metal oxides can be reduced to pure metals and oxygen - entirely
powered by the sun.

Piatkowski said he believes one of the group’s most innovative current projects is the sustainable production of hydrogen from sunlight and water.“This project has huge potential for significant impact in realizing a hydrogen economy,” he said. “Our group is the closest to creating a functioning prototype.”

In the two-step process, a metal oxide is reduced to pure metal and oxygen at 2100K. By hydrolyzing the pure metal, the initial metal oxide feedstock is recovered and can be reused, while
hydrogen is produced without using electricity or fossil fuels.

Piatkowski’s own work focuses on developing new technology that could enable much cleaner and more efficient use of the world’s enormous coal reserves. He is investigating the use of
solar energy in the steam-reforming of coal for synthesis gas (H2 and CO) production. Synthesis gas can be applied to any combustion process. It offers a higher heating value and lower
CO2 intensity than the initial coal feedstock, as well as vastly lower emissions.

“My time at U of T was a fantastic period of personal and academic growth,” Piatkowski said. “The depth and quality of the knowledge I gained have given me immense confidence in pursing the demanding and multifaceted field of solar chemistry at ETHZ.”

Piatkowski completed his master’s at ETHZ last April. The renowned university was founded in 1855; Albert Einstein was both a student and professor there. Piatkowski’s supervisor, Professor Aldo Steinfeld, heads both the Solar Technologies Laboratory at the Paul Scherrer Institute and also the Professorship for Renewable Energy Carriers (PRE) at ETHZ.