Electrofuel
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Electrofuels, also known as e-fuels, a class of
The process uses carbon dioxide in manufacturing and releases around the same amount of carbon dioxide into the air when the fuel is burned, for an overall low carbon footprint. Electrofuels are thus an option for reducing greenhouse gas emissions from transport, particularly for long-distance freight, marine, and air transport.[1]: 9–13
The primary targets are methanol, and diesel, but include other alcohols and carbon-containing gases such as methane and butane.
Research
A primary source of funding for research on liquid electrofuels for transportation was the Electrofuels Program of the Advanced Research Projects Agency-Energy (
The first Electrofuels Conference, sponsored by the
Electrofuels have the potential to be
As of 2014[update], prompted by the fracking boom, ARPA-E's focus has moved from electrical feedstocks to natural-gas based feedstocks, and thus away from electrofuels.[9]
Towards the end of 2020,
By 2021, the European Federation for Transport and Environment, an advocacy group, advised the aviation sector was needing e-kerosene to be deployed as it could substantially reduce the climate impact of aviation.[14] It was also observing electrofuel usage in cars emits two significant greenhouse gases beyond CO2 captured for the production: methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O); local air pollution was still a concern, and it was five times less efficient than direct electrification.[15]
The eFuel Alliance, another advocacy group, states that "the perspective of the lack of efficiency of Electrofuels is misleading as what is critical for global energy transition is not the degree of efficiency of electricity’s end usage, but rather how efficiently electricity can be produced from renewable energies, and then made usable".[16]
In 2023, a study published by the NATO Energy Security Centre of Excellence, concluded that e-fuels offer one of the most promising decarbonization pathways for military mobility across the land, sea and air domains.[17]
Applications
Electrofuels are largely seen as a supplement and eventual replacement for fuels used in transport, such as jet fuel, diesel fuel, and fuel oil.[1] The most basic electrofuel is hydrogen produced from water,[18] though it is hampered by difficulties in effective storage and transportation.[19] Hydrogen is often further processed into methane or syngas via reaction with carbon dioxide produced through a variety of renewable means, which can then be processed further to produce the more easily handled gasoline, kerosene or diesel liquid fuels through the Fischer–Tropsch process.[20][21] Catalytic synthesis routes have been used to produce methanol as an e-fuel from syngas produced in this way.[22]
Some current processes that claim to produce electrofuels are powered by electricity generated by non-renewable fossil fuels; academics have acknowledged the necessity of these methods in the early stages of electrofuel production despite their counterintuitive nature.[21]
Projects
In September 2022, the Finnish company Q Power sold P2X Solutions a synthetic methane production unit to be delivered in 2024 in Harjavalta, Finland, next to its 20 MW green hydrogen production plant.[23] Ren-Gas has several synthetic methane production projects in Tampere, Lahti, Kotka, Mikkeli and Pori in Finland.[24] In December 2022, Porsche and Chilean company Highly Innovative Fuels opened the Haru Oni pilot plant in Punta Arenas, Chile, based on wind power and producing ~130 m3 of eFuel per year in the pilot phase, scaling to 55,000 m3 per year by the mid-2020s, and 550,000 m3 after another two years, to be exported through its port.[25]
See also
References
- ^ ISBN 978-1-78252-422-9. Archived(PDF) from the original on 27 September 2019. Retrieved 7 March 2023.
- ^ "ELECTROFUELS: Microorganisms for Liquid Transportation Fuel". ARPA-E. Archived from the original on October 10, 2013. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
- ^ "Novel Biological Conversion of Hydrogen and Carbon Dioxide Directly into Free Fatty Acids". ARPA-E. Archived from the original on October 10, 2013. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
- ^ "Electrofuels Via Direct Electron Transfer from Electrodes to Microbes". ARPA-E. Archived from the original on October 10, 2013. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
- ^ “ARPA-E Project | Biofuels from Solar Energy and Bacteria.” Arpa-E.energy.gov, 2014, https://arpa-e.energy.gov/technologies/projects/biofuels-solar-energy-and-bacteria. Accessed 9 Dec. 2023.
- ^ Descriptions of all ARPA-E Electrofuels Program research projects can be found at the ARPA-E Electrofuels Program website.
- ^ "SBE's Conference on Electrofuels Research". American Institute of Chemical Engineers. Retrieved July 23, 2013.
- ^ Markus, Frank. “Future Fuel: Porsche Sponsors Major EFuel Initiative—at $45/Gallon.” MotorTrend, MotorTrend, 20 Dec. 2022, https://www.motortrend.com/features/porsche-supercup-efuel-direct-air-carbon-capture/#:~:text=Future%20Fuel%3A%20Porsche%20Sponsors%20Major%20eFuel%20Initiative%E2%80%94at%20%2445%20a%20Gallon. Accessed 9 Dec. 2023.
- ^ Biello, David (March 20, 2014). "Fracking Hammers Clean Energy Research". Scientific American. Retrieved April 14, 2014.
The cheap natural gas freed from shale by horizontal drilling and hydraulic fracturing (or fracking) has helped kill off bleeding-edge programs like Electrofuels, a bid to use microbes to turn cheap electricity into liquid fuels, and ushered in programs like REMOTE, a bid to use microbes to turn cheap natural gas into liquid fuels.
- ^ Patrascu, Daniel (2020-12-03). "Future Porsche Cars to Run on eFuels, Motorsport Machines Included". autoevolution. Retrieved 2021-03-30.
- ^ AG, Porsche. “EFuel for Thought.” Porsche Newsroom, 14 Feb. 2023, https://newsroom.porsche.com/en_US/2023/company/porsche-efuels-pilot-plant-haru-oni-chile-synthetic-fuels-behind-the-scenes-31244.html
- ^ "Audi advances e-fuels technology: new "e-benzin" fuel being tested". Audi MediaCenter. Retrieved 2021-03-30.
- ^ Calderwood, Dave (2022-10-05). "Zero Petroleum to produce synthetic fuels at Bicester". FLYER. Retrieved 2023-01-13.
- ^ "FAQ: the what and how of e-kerosene" (PDF). European Federation for Transport and Environment. February 2021.
- ^ Krajinska, Anna (December 2021). "Magic green fuels" (PDF). Transport & Environment.
- ^ It is the answer of the question "How efficient is the use of eFuels compared to direct electricity?" https://www.efuel-alliance.eu/faq
- ^ Trakimavicius, Lukas (December 2023). "Mission Net-Zero: Charting the Path for E-fuels in the Military". NATO Energy Security Centre of Excellence.
- .
- .
- ISSN 0013-936X.
- ^ .
- .
- ^ "P2X Solutions procures synthetic methane production technology from the Finnish Q Power" (Press release). Q Power. 2022-09-15.
- ^ "Projects". Ren-Gas Oy. Retrieved 2023-05-22.
- ^ "eFuels pilot plant in Chile officially opened" (Press release). Porsche. 2022-12-20.
External links
- Lovett, Richard A. (June 17, 2013). "Electrofuels: Charged Microbes May "Poop Out" a Gasoline Alternative". National Geographic. Archived from the original on June 20, 2013. Retrieved July 23, 2013.(subscription required)
- eFuel Alliance