This concept was first postulated by Funk and Reinstrom (1966) as a maximally efficient way to produce fuels (e.g. hydrogen, ammonia) from stable and abundant species (e.g. water, nitrogen) and heat sources. Although fuel availability was scarcely considered before the oil crisis efficient fuel generation was an issue in important niche markets. As an example, in the military logistics field, providing fuels for vehicles in remote battlefields is a key task. Hence, a mobile production system based on a portable heat source (a nuclear reactor was considered) was being investigated with utmost interest.
Following the oil crisis, multiple programs (Europe, Japan, United States) were created to design, test and qualify such processes for purposes such as energy independence. High-temperature (around  operating temperature) nuclear reactors were still considered as the likely heat sources. However, optimistic expectations based on initial thermodynamics studies were quickly moderated by pragmatic analyses comparing standard technologies (thermodynamic cycles for electricity generation, coupled with the electrolysis of water) and by numerous practical issues (insufficient temperatures from even nuclear reactors, slow reactivities, reactor corrosion, significant losses of intermediate compounds with time...). Hence, the interest for this technology faded during the next decades, or at least some tradeoffs (hybrid versions) were being considered with the use of electricity as a fractional energy input instead of only heat for the reactions (e.g. Hybrid sulfur cycle). A rebirth in the year 2000 can be explained by both the new energy crisis, demand for electricity, and the rapid pace of development of concentrated solar power technologies whose potentially very high temperatures are ideal for thermochemical processes, while the environmentally friendly side of thermochemical cycles attracted funding in a period concerned with a potential peak oil outcome.