{"id":28235,"date":"2023-06-01T17:00:07","date_gmt":"2023-06-01T15:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sciencefocus.com\/?p=144408"},"modified":"2023-06-01T17:37:10","modified_gmt":"2023-06-01T15:37:10","slug":"new-e-fuels-could-help-save-the-planet-and-your-car-but-at-a-hidden-cost","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/rss_feed\/new-e-fuels-could-help-save-the-planet-and-your-car-but-at-a-hidden-cost\/","title":{"rendered":"New e-fuels could help save the planet (and your car) but at a hidden cost"},"content":{"rendered":"

Synthetic fuels could make transport more sustainable\u2026 but at a price. <\/p>

By Noa Leach\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Thursday, 01 June 2023 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

The likes of Porsche and Ferrari are banking on synthetic fuel to ensure their cars are exempt from the EU ban on the sale of new combustion engine vehicles by 2035.<\/p>\n

Synthetic fuel \u2013 or electrofuel (e-fuel) \u2013 is a form of petrol made using hydrogen from water and carbon from air. The problem is the electricity that\u2019s required to extract these elements. Nevertheless, companies are already producing e-fuel on a small scale, including some in the UK.<\/p>\n

So will we see e-fuel in petrol stations soon and can we, and the planet, afford to use it? We spoke to Professor Patricia Thornley<\/a>, Director of the Energy and Bioproducts Research Institute (EBRI) at Aston University, to find out.<\/p>\n

What are e-fuels?<\/h4>\n

E-fuels are synthetic fuels. We create them from the building blocks of carbon dioxide (CO2<\/sub>) and hydrogen. You can use electrolysis to produce hydrogen and you can pull the CO2<\/sub> out of the atmosphere by direct air capture.<\/p>\n

Combining these produces a hydrocarbon fuel. If you get different mixes of these molecules, then that provides you with different fuels for different purposes: lighter molecules are suitable for, say, an aircraft\u2019s ignition fuel, while you\u2019ll need heavier molecules for car or marine engines.<\/p>\n

How are they different from biofuel?<\/h4>\n

With biofuels (for example, ethanol and biodiesel) you\u2019re growing material that contains carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, and trying to convert it into a liquid or gas that you can use.<\/p>\n

In many ways, that pathway is the same with e-fuels but it\u2019s different in that biofuel needs land.<\/p>\n

The main advantage of e-fuel is that you\u2019re not using plants but the disadvantage is that you\u2019re using more energy and this energy still has to come from somewhere.<\/p>\n

\""e-fuel\"<\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div>
e-fuel production is rising in the UK but commercial mass-production will need policy to back it up \u00a9 Shutterstock<\/span><\/figcaption><\/div>\n

How does e-fuel help to cut down carbon emissions?<\/h4>\n

If we were to use e-fuel in today\u2019s car engines, the carbon emissions that come out of the back of the vehicle will be the same in terms of the amount of CO2<\/sub> that is, literally, emitted into the atmosphere.<\/p>\n

But that\u2019s not all we need to think about when we think about carbon. Because if the carbon in the fuel has come from a renewable source \u2013 if, for example, it has recently been extracted from the atmosphere \u2013 then we\u2019re recirculating it back again.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t need to worry that we\u2019ve created a new carbon burden in the atmosphere as it\u2019s the perfect circle: those carbon atoms that were in the air have been sucked out by direct air capture, turned into a fuel and then re-released.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the same with biofuels \u2013 they both give you a low-carbon fuel that can actually help us with tackling climate change.<\/p>\n

How soon could e-fuels be available?<\/h4>\n

We\u2019re not yet at the stage where we\u2019re producing large enough quantities of e-fuels to be able to roll them out commercially.<\/p>\n

Realistically, that won\u2019t happen until we have an appropriate policy measure in place.<\/p>\n

Would petrol stations need to change to accommodate e-fuels?<\/h4>\n

No. In the first place, e-fuel mimics existing fuel so we can operate in the existing fuelling infrastructure.<\/p>\n

Any changes we\u2019d need would be \u2018upstream\u2019 [at points earlier in fuel production process]: if you want significant amounts of e-fuel, then you need to have more renewable electricity in the place where you\u2019re going to produce the fuel.<\/p>\n

The electrical infrastructure would be the thing that has to change if we had a massive increase in e-fuel production in the UK. But you would also need electrolysis plants [where water is separated] to produce hydrogen.<\/p>\n

Read more:<\/strong><\/p>\n