News: Audi just created diesel fuel from air and water

[Paul_The_Aussie]

Audi is making a new fuel for internal combustion engines that has the potential to make a big dent when it comes to climate change ? that's because the synthetic diesel is made from just water and carbon dioxide.

The company's pilot plant, which is operated by German startup Sunfire in Dresden, produced its first batches of the "e-diesel" this month. German Federal Minister of Education and Research Johanna Wanka put a few liters of the fuel in her work car, an Audi A8, to commemorate the accomplishment.

The base fuel is referred to as "blue crude," and begins by taking electricity from renewable sources like wind, solar or hydropower and using it to produce hydrogen from water via reversible electrolysis. The hydrogen is then mixed with CO2 that has been converted into CO in two chemical processes and the resulting reactions produce a liquid made from long-chain hydrocarbons ? this is blue crude, which is then refined to create the end product, the synthetic e-diesel.

Audi says that the carbon dioxide used in the process is currently supplied by a biogas facility but, further adding to the green impacts of the process, some of the CO2 is captured directly from the ambient air, taking the greenhouse gas out of the atmosphere.

Sunfire claims that analysis shows the properties of the synthetic diesel are superior to fossil fuel, and that its lack of sulphur and fossil-based oil makes it more environmentally friendly. The overall energy efficiency of the fuel creation process using renewable power is around 70 percent, according to Audi.

"The engine runs quieter and fewer pollutants are being created," says Sunfire CTO Christian von Olshausen.

The fuel can be combined with conventional diesel fuel, as is often done with biodiesel fuels already.

The Dresden pilot plant is set to produce about 42 gallons (160 l) of synthetic diesel per day in the coming months, and the two companies say the next step is to build a bigger plant.

"If we get the first sales order, we will be ready to commercialize our technology," von Olshausen says.

Sunfire anticipates that the market price for the synthetic diesel could be between 1 and 1.5 Euros per liter, which would be nearly competitive or a little more expensive than current diesel prices in Europe, but the actual figure will be largely dependent on the price of electricity.

For an overview of the production process, check out the promotional video below.

http://www.gizmag.com/audi-creates-e-diesel-from-co2/37130/

 

[chaos386]

So... Water-gas shift plus Fischer-Tropsch. Wow.

 

[Spectre]

The base fuel is referred to as "blue crude," and begins by taking electricity from renewable sources like wind, solar or hydropower and using it to produce hydrogen from water via reversible electrolysis.

Gee. Imagine that. The new fuel is hydrogen based. Where are all the people screaming about how hydrogen won't work, how it's hugely wasteful, etc.,etc.? Because there is no way this can be more efficient to produce than straight hydrogen is.

 

[H0nzik]

Gee. Imagine that. The new fuel is hydrogen based. Where are all the people screaming about how hydrogen won't work, how it's hugely wasteful, etc.,etc.? Because there is no way this can be more efficient to produce than straight hydrogen is.

Maybe they, like, haven't heard of it yet? Sure, doesn't sound like the whole process will be very efficient. On the other hand, it can be used in the current cars and petrol stations, it may still be more energy efficient than growing diesel on fields, and in the end, you'd still end up with infrastructure for producing hydrogen.

 

[MWF]

I've been saying for years that the way forward for personal transportation should be fuel cell powered cars using hydrogen derived from electricity from renewables and nuclear. This just seems overly complex. Use offshore windfarms to power offshore shore gas rigs to split seawater by electrolysis then pipe the hydrogen ashore to terminals before filling tankers to deliver to existing filling stations.

That's when windpower makes sense because you have a way of storing and transporting the resulting energy.

 

[Matt2000]

I've been saying for years that the way forward for personal transportation should be fuel cell powered cars using hydrogen derived from electricity from renewables and nuclear. This just seems overly complex. Use offshore windfarms to power offshore shore gas rigs to split seawater by electrolysis then pipe the hydrogen ashore to terminals before filling tankers to deliver to existing filling stations.

That's when windpower makes sense because you have a way of storing and transporting the resulting energy.

Especially when you consider that windfarms are actually being turned off in this country as the grid is being maxed out, the turbines could still be doing something useful.

I have to say though, as far as coming up with something that ultimately fits our current infrastructure, this ain't bad.

 

[pepitko]

Yeah, nobody needs the electricity from wind during the night, so the turbines might as well make hydrogen as a way to store the produced energy.

 

[bone]

why did they invent this?

i can't imagine the process to make this needs more CO2 than a rapeseed takes up while growing
and it probably needs a whole lot more electricity /km driven than an electric car would need for that same mile

once they come up with fast-charging or interchangeable batteries, there is no need for this...

unless they manage to integrate the complete process in the car!!!
fill it up with water, and while driving CO2 is taken from the air and changed in biodiesel
that would be cool

 

[Matt2000]

Yeah, nobody needs the electricity from wind during the night, so the turbines might as well make hydrogen as a way to store the produced energy.

During the day, or whenever. Seriously, they're being turned off for producing too much electricity when combined with fossil-fuel stations that can't just be switched off. There's a whole load of potential energy being wasted. Why not pump out some hydrogen?

I certainly can't fault the idea of reducing the CO2 level in the atmosphere either.

 

[narf]

Couple thoughts:

Making hydrogen is more efficient than making hydrogen and then some other conversion, yeah. However, storing and transporting hydrogen is a lot tougher than storing and transporting diesel... no new infrastructure required. Run your diesel on "blue crude" where available, use regular dino juice where not. Greenish motoring without the downsides of getting the fuel, recharging, whatever.

Turning off wind farms... yeah, that's a waste. We're working on making our grid more robust, especially up here. If all the Danish and northern German wind farms were running at full capacity at once we wouldn't be able to transmit the power down south. Using off-peak power when it's there, and making more peak power when it's not is one of the bigger challenges of intermittent renewable energy. Running hydrogen, synthetic diesel, pumped storage, whatever while the power is there is a good thing. Hell, BEVs with smart chargers to charge and discharge when the grid needs to unload power or get some back would be a godsend for that.

Interchangeable batteries... betterplace tried that and failed the standardization efforts are bonkers. I'm more looking forward to pumpable electrolyte. Discharge your tank, refill, charge at the station later. Again that would require a whole new infrastructure though.

bone: Now all you need is a windmill on top of your car to run off the wind generated by your moving car and you have invented a perpetual motion machine

MWF: Storing hydrogen is no fun, storing diesel can be as simple as a jerry can.

 

[Pininfarina_]

I've been saying for years that the way forward for personal transportation should be fuel cell powered cars using hydrogen derived from electricity from renewables and nuclear. This just seems overly complex. Use offshore windfarms to power offshore shore gas rigs to split seawater by electrolysis then pipe the hydrogen ashore to terminals before filling tankers to deliver to existing filling stations.

That's when windpower makes sense because you have a way of storing and transporting the resulting energy.

I thought everyone agreed hydrogen would never be the future because of its complicated logistics.