Solar power used to power steamboat in world-first

Source: Synhelion

A spinout from ETH Zürich has developed a solar-powered fuel compatible with a 110-year-old steamboat engine.

The steamboat Gallia, powered by a traditional two-cylinder steam engine, successfully ran on solar diesel produced by Synhelion at its German solar fuel plant, DAWN, which has been in operation since Q3 of 2024.

The company, which is looking to “defossilise” the transportation industry with its low-carbon solar-powered fuel, demonstrated its use earlier this month as fuel for motorcycles.

Solar fuel

Synhelion’s technology converts solar energy into high-temperature process heat beyond 1,200°C.

The company says it can generate this heat from both renewable solar power or from a solar field at its DAWN plant.

Part of the heat is fed into a thermochemical reactor that produces syngas – a mixture of hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO). The syngas is then processed downstream to make fuels, including jet fuel, gasoline or diesel.

The company stores the remaining heat in thermal energy storage to power its DAWN plant. It says that its fuel is “nearly CO2-neutral” emitting only as much carbon as it took to produce it.

Minimal disruption

According to operators of the Gallia, the steamboat was able to sail without disruption or additions to its operating infrastructure.

The owners of the steamboat, the Lake Lucerne Navigation Company (SGV), has signed a five-year offtake agreement with Synhelion to purchase more solar fuel.

Stefan Schulthess, managing director of SGV, said: “Synhelion’s solar fuel offers us a concrete solution to reduce our CO2 emissions.”

Synhelion is looking to expand its production capacities to commercial scale, with provisional plans to build its first commercial plant, which can produce 1,000 t/d of fuel, in Spain this year.