E-fuels are fuels in gas or liquid form that are produced from renewable sources (for example, solar or wind energy) or decarbonized electricity. This raw material distinguishes them from biofuels, which are mainly produced from biomass.
Due to the reduction of harmful emissions associated with combustion engines, e-fuel plays a key role in decarbonization strategies. By studying the entire production cycle, carbon emissions are much lower than those of oil-based fuels.
How are they produced? First of all, it all depends on what form the final product will be in, liquid or gaseous:
- gas e-fuels: renewable hydrogen and e-methane, which can later be liquefied to produce liquid H2 .
- liquid e-fuels: for example, e-methanol and e-crude oil (synthetic crude oil) from which e-diesel fuel is obtained.
- gas or liquid form: synthetic ammonia.
The advantage of e-fuel is that it uses the same infrastructure as fossil analogues such as gasoline, diesel fuel, kerosene or natural gas. According to some studies, by 2070, electronic kerosene will satisfy about 40% of aviation’s energy needs. There are various initiatives around the world that are aimed at the production of environmentally friendly electronic fuel. And here is one of the latest news on the automotive market.
Porsche, together with some partners, have started the production of climate-neutral “electronic fuel”, which ideally will replace gasoline in cars with an internal combustion engine in the future. Porsche plans to initially use this fuel in motorsport, and in subsequent years to use it for other purposes. Of course, eventually, the company plans to sell fuel to oil and other companies so that this fuel is distributed among consumers.
The companies claim that they provide almost neutral operation of gas engines with CO2 content. The vehicle will still need to use oil to lubricate the engine. At the pilot stage, Porsche expects to produce about 130,000 liters of electronic fuel. And by the middle of the decade, in about 2 years, it is planned to increase this figure to about 550 million liters. Initially, the construction of a plant in Chile was announced by Porsche at the end of 2020, when the automaker announced that it would invest $ 24 million in the development of the plant and electronic fuel.Partners include Chilean operating company Highly Innovative Fuels, Siemens’ renewable energy unit and others.
However, it would still be very difficult and too expensive to completely replace traditional fossil fuels at the moment. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, in 2021, about 134.83 billion gallons (about 500 billion liters) of finished gasoline were consumed in the United States, which averages about 369 million gallons per day.
But at the same time, the production of such fuel would allow Porsche and other companies to continue to produce cars, such as Porsche 911 sports car with a traditional engine along with a new electric model or instead of it. Although electric cars can boast outstanding performance characteristics.
Sources:
https://www.motortrend.com/features/porsche-supercup-efuel-direct-air-carbon-capture
https://www.carmagazine.co.uk/car-news/tech/porsche-synthetic-fuels/