The end of fossil fuels is near, whether with government measures or simply through the exhaustion of resources. To continue, manufacturers are scratching their heads to find alternative solutions. This is particularly the case for passion car manufacturers, who find their salvation in synthetic fuels. It's Porsche's turn to team up with Siemens Mobility and announce the construction of a synthetic fuel production plant in Chile.
Rather than going electric, as seems to be currently fashionable, were we using non-polluting gasoline? This is a bit of the idea of Porsche and Siemens Mobility by focusing on synthetic fuel. The brands of the Volkswagen group also seem very keen on the issue: after the joint work of Audi and Bosch, it is now Porsche and Siemens Mobility who are working to bring this synthetic gasoline project to fruition.
If you are not familiar with the terms “carbon neutral fuel” ou “efuel” and think it's just greenwashing, automotive magazine Evo has published an excellent, detailed article on how synthetic fuels work in November 2020, which is worth reading if you are interested in this topic.
To create synthetic fuels, a process captures either carbon monoxide or carbon dioxide directly from the atmosphere. In a separate process, it uses electrolysis to separate hydrogen and oxygen present in water. By synthesizing hydrogen with the recovered carbon, this process creates a efuel fully synthetic. If you use, for example, wind power to provide the electricity for this process, you end up with a reasonably carbon neutral product.
Since the volume and energy density are comparable to fossil fuels, these electric fuels can be used as individual replacements in existing internal combustion engines. A second type of synthetic fuel production process uses biomass (industrial by-products of forestry, for example), but that is another topic.
For example, a plant in southern Chile will implement a proprietary methanol-gasoline process supplied under license by Exxon Mobil. This pilot project, called “ Haru Oni », is developed with AME, ENAP and ENEL. This synthetic fuel production plant relies on wind energy for its electricity supply.
The electrolyzers will split the water into hydrogen and oxygen, and the CO2 will be filtered from the air and treated with the hydrogen to create synthetic methanol. Then the industrial process of converting methanol to gasoline comes into play.
If all goes as planned, the pilot phase of “Haru Oni” will produce around 130 liters of efuel as early as 000. Once this target is achieved, production will increase, with around 2022 million liters expected per year by 55, and 2024 million by 550. Naturally, Porsche plans to be its own best customer for this fuel, although it certainly won't be the only one. Porsche's initial bet on carbon-neutral gasoline would involve an investment of $2026 million.
Asked by Coach, Dr. Frank Walliser, Director of Motorsport and GT at Porsche, believes that e-Fuel combustion engines will be as clean, if not cleaner, than electric alternatives: “Synthetic fuel is cleaner. We expect a CO2 reduction of 85%. From a “well to wheel” point of view, and you have to consider the whole chain for all vehicles, it will be the same level of CO2 produced in the manufacture and use of an electric vehicle.
An electric car actually emits more CO2 during its manufacture than a thermal vehicle, because of the complicated battery manufacturing processes, the latter would regain the advantage here with a lower CO2 impact in use.
Frank Wallisser develops this aspect as follows: “The general idea behind these synthetic fuels is that there are no mechanical changes required, unlike what we saw with E10 or E20 ethanol. So really, anyone can use it. It has no impact on performance, there are even a few more horsepower, but the emissions are much better, we see fewer particles, less NOx.”
“Haru Oni” is not the only project of its kind, and rethinking the way we power our vehicles is going to require several solutions to be sustainable. No matter the number of wheels, taking a thoughtful, multi-dimensional approach seems like a much-needed change.
