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Even though news of Porsche teaming up with several “international companies”—namely Siemens Energy—to produce a “synthetic climate-neutral fuel” known as eFuel dropped earlier last week, we haven’t heard as much chatter as we thought it might garner.
The plan, known as “Haru Oni,” is to build a specialized plant in southern Chile that is expected to be able to produce more than 34,000 gallons of eFuel by 2022, with an end goal of over 145 million gallons by 2026.
According to the press release, this eFuel is at least partly composed of renewable methanol that is produced in a process that combines hydrogen with air that has been scrubbed of carbon dioxide. Regardless of how promising eFuel sounds, the advent of a somewhat more environmentally friendly synthetic fuel for cars could make for a nice comprise in the search for alternative fuel sources for our cars, if not a stop-gap until better technology exists that allows even more access to things electric or hydrogen-powered cars.
Does this eFuel sound promising, or are you going to keep pumping that dinosaur juice into your car until they pry it from your cold, dead hands? Also, where do you think eFuel stacks up compared to other alternative sources for fuel?
Read the full press release below:
Porsche, Siemens Energy and a lineup of international companies are developing and implementing a pilot project in Chile that is expected to yield the world’s first integrated, commercial, industrial-scale plant for making synthetic climate-neutral fuels (eFuels).
In the pilot phase, around 130,000 litres of eFuels will be produced as early as 2022. In two further phases, capacity will then be increased to about 55 million litres of eFuels a year by 2024, and around 550 million litres of eFuels by 2026. Porsche will be the primary customer for the green fuel. Other partners in the project are the energy firm AME and the petroleum company ENAP, from Chile, and Italian energy company Enel.
The “Haru Oni” pilot project in Magallanes Province takes advantage of the excellent wind conditions in southern Chile to produce climate-neutral fuel with the aid of green wind power. As part of Germany’s national hydrogen strategy, Siemens Energy will get a grant of some 8 million euros from the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy in support of the project, the ministry announced today.
Christian Bruch, CEO Siemens Energy
“Establishing a sustainable energy economy is going to require some rethinking. Renewable energy will no longer be produced only where it’s needed, but where natural resources like wind and sun are available on a massive scale. New supply chains are going to arise all over the world to carry renewable energy from one region to another. That’s especially important for Germany, which – bottom-line – has to import energy if it’s going to meet its nationwide demand. Hydrogen will come to play an increasingly important role in storing and transporting energy, which is why the German government’s support for the project is an important signal.”
Porsche CEO Oliver Blume
“Electromobility is a top priority at Porsche. eFuels for cars are a worthwhile complement to that – if they’re produced in parts of the world where a surplus of sustainable energy is available. They are an additional element on the road to decarbonisation. Their advantages lie in their ease of application: eFuels can be used in combustion engines and plug-in hybrids, and can make use of the existing network of filling stations. By using them, we can make a further contribution toward protecting the climate. As a maker of high-performance, efficient engines, we have broad technical expertise. We know exactly what fuel characteristics our engines need in order to operate with minimal impact on the climate. Our involvement in the world’s first commercial, integrated eFuels plant supports the development of the alternative fuels of the future.”
Federal Economy Minister Peter Altmaier
“Hydrogen is a key component for successfully carrying out the energy transformation in every sector. That’s why, with the National Hydrogen Strategy, we aim to take advantage of the opportunities that hydrogen offers for the climate, energy and economic policy. We know we won’t be able to cover our national demand out of domestic production alone, and will need international partnerships. So I’m very pleased to see that Siemens Energy and Porsche are developing production capacity in other countries, along with importing structures, for green hydrogen and its daughter products. Thanks to German know-how, for the first time in the world innovation from the laboratory will now be applied in an integrated, commercial plant.”
Siemens Energy is a co-developer of the “Haru Oni” project (also known as HIF project), and is serving as a systems integrator to cover the entire value chain – from power generation using Siemens Gamesa wind turbines, to producing green hydrogen, to conversion into synthetic fuel. The company’s flexible PEM (PEM = Proton Exchange Membrane) electrolysis is ideally suited for using volatile wind power.
As the fuel’s primary user, Porsche is planning in the first phase to use the eFuels from Chile in beacon projects. These include using eFuels in Porsche’s motorsport fleet, at Porsche Experience Centres and, later, in series production sports cars. The sports car maker will start with an initial investment of roughly 20 million euros.
AME is the primary developer and owner of the HIF (Highly Innovative Fuels) project company. Enel is a co-funder of the plant, with a focus on wind power and electrolysis. ENAP will support the project by providing operating staff and with maintenance and logistics.
Chile, with its excellent climate conditions for wind power and the associated low cost of electricity, has a very high potential in international terms for producing, exporting and locally using green hydrogen. To generate green hydrogen, electrolysers use wind power to dissociate water into its two components: oxygen and hydrogen. In a second step, plans call for filtering CO2 out of the air and then combining it with the green hydrogen to form synthetic methanol. The result is renewable methanol, which can be converted into climate-friendly fuel using an MTG (methanol to gasoline) technology to be licensed and supported by ExxonMobil.
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I heard about this awhile back before Porsche was involved. I believe at the time they said in mass production the cast would be down around $2-3 per gallon. I'm all for it. I still stand by my statement that I don't believe electric cars are the answer to replace the ICE. They do have their place but I think hydrogen or a fuel alternative are more likely.
I kind of wish they would go butanol, as it's a lot closer to gasoline. But the idea is good. And this would work well in Arizona, where rivers pass by, so you have a source of sun (power) and water (H2 source) for combining with CO2. The other thought is to at least blend the alcohols, so that there can be a wider range of evaporation- helping engine cold starts.
I read about an idea like this a few years ago, and thought it was a great idea for energy storage. This is just a liquid battery.
If one is truly worried about carbon emissions then using nuclear power to turn water + air into gasoline/diesel means you can reuse all of the existing fueling infrastructure (tankers, pipelines, gas stations, etc) instead of needing a massive upgrade on the electrical grid. It also means that you can take existing cars and trucks and make them carbon-neutral instead of requiring that they be junked and replaced with expensive EVs. Makes a ton more sense than hydrogen fuel cells.
In reply to Colin Wood :
Talk about old news!!!! It's called flex fuel. America has been using it forever. Moonshine is ethanol and back in Model T Ford days a mechanic went in and drilled out jets.
In the 1980's Iowa became the first state in the nation to vote on presidential primaries in order to mandate the use of Ethanol.
Methanol is some nasty stuff. So switching to ethanol was a no brainer.
Now-days we have flex fuel option where we can use up to 85% ethanol just by putting it in our gas tank. If the price of E85 is to high the next time we can use regular unleaded. Nothing else to do. It's a cheap option. Costs $99 for a new Ford Chevy is about the same Ive seen it on Dodge and others.
In reply to frenchyd :
Did you read the notes? It's not distilled liquor. It's methanol made from H2 and atmospheric CO2- that's what makes it different.
Zie Germans were making gasoline from coal in the mid-1930s.
Seems like a logical step.
In reply to Patientzero :
What is your favorite economically feasible way of generating commercial quantities of hydrogen that doesn't involve natural gas or crude oil? I used to work for an oil company and am typically very critical of anything that isn't using only water as a source.
I seem to recall something called "seafuel" that was an experiment in the 70's. Seawater and algae were distilled into something akin to bio-diesel. A quick internet search for it reveled nothing today. I learned of it when doing a college paper in the early 90's.
In reply to alfadriver (Forum Supporter) :
No, he never does.
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