Why synthetic fuel is the petrolhead’s friend
Synthetic fuel is another step closer to being commercially available, keeping icons on the road in a sustainable way.
There’s life in the combustion engine yet. While the world focuses on electric power to run the next generation of cars, the use of commercially available synthetic fuels is just around the corner – an innovation that could help keep all of the cars that still use combustion engines on the road, after bans on sales of new combustion-engined cars have taken effect. ‘Synthetic fuels are a great opportunity,’ says Adrian Hallmark, Bentley CEO. ‘For those cars that need liquid fuel for the future, this could be a viable alternative.’
WHAT’S THE SCIENCE BEHIND IT?
The chemistry uses the planet’s most abundant natural resource, hydrogen, in a way that’s far more sustainable than drilling for a finite amount of dead dinosaurs. The process is designed to be as carbon neutral as possible.
Water is electrolysed (extra eco brownie points are gained if you power the electrolysis with renewable energy), with the hydrogen atoms that have been split by the process being blended with captured carbon dioxide to create a liquid fuel called e-methanol, with subsequent refinement turning it into e-gasoline, e-diesel or even e-kerosene for aircraft. While it’s still a combustible fuel source, e-fuel offers a significant reduction in emissions. ‘Because it’s an artificial fuel, you have no by-products, so it’s way cleaner,’ says Porsche 718 and 911 director Frank Walliser. ‘From our tests we expect a reduction on CO2 of around 85 per cent’.
‘These fuels have no impact on performance, with emissions about the same as an EV’
PORSCHE’S FRANK WALLISER
IS PORSCHE MAKING IT WORK?
Yes, in its motorsport programmes. Porsche is investing an initial €20m in the Siemens Haru Oni project, an e-fuel plant in Chile. ‘Synthetic fuels for cars are a worthwhile complement to our electromobility plans,’ says Porsche boss Oliver Blume. ‘If these fuels are produced in parts of the world where a surplus of sustainable energy is available then they are an additional element on the road to decarbonisation.’
So keen on the technology is Porsche that it intends to use e-fuels in its 911 GT3 customer racing series, not just to reduce emissions but as a real-world test bed for the fuel’s performance in the harshest of driving conditions.
WILL ENGINES NEED MODIFICATIONS?
No changes are required to a car’s combustion engine to run it, and even older cars can use synthetic fuels.
‘It’s very important as you can really use these fuels for even 30-year-old combustion engines without harming them at all,’ says Porsche GT boss Andreas Preuninger.
‘No change to the engine is necessary, unlike E10 and E20 fuels now, so everyone can use it,’ adds Walliser. ‘Going on the specs of regular fuel, synthetic fuels have no impact on performance, in some cases offer more horsepower, but it goes in the right direction as emissions are way better, with less particulates and NOx. That’s because synthetic fuels have around eight to 10 components. Fuel today has between 30 and 40, and not everything in there is welcome. In terms of well-to-wheel, e-fuel emissions are on the same level as a full-electric car.’
Such fuels will also prolong the life of combustion-engined cars sold up until, for example, the UK’s ban coming into force in 2030. ‘If we take the UK, it takes 20 years from the first date of registration for 98 per cent of cars to disappear off the road,’ says Hallmark. ‘So, even if there’s a ban on new combustion engine sales in 2030 or 2035, you’re still talking about the mid-2050s before most of them are off the road.
‘These fuels can be blended with regular fuel to reduce CO2 or, when the demand for total fuel goes down and more people buy EVs, synthetic fuels can replaced traditional fuels fully.’
But Hallmark says there are still some hurdles to overcome, namely commercialising the process. ‘The science is there – it just needs industrialising,’ he says. ‘It won’t be done overnight, and it won’t create the 5tn barrels of oil we currently use.’