{"id":87133,"date":"2023-11-09T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-11-09T05:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/e-carburants-quel-apport-possible-a-la-decarbonation-du-transport\/"},"modified":"2024-10-31T14:39:08","modified_gmt":"2024-10-31T13:39:08","slug":"e-carburants-quel-apport-possible-a-la-decarbonation-du-transport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/e-carburants-quel-apport-possible-a-la-decarbonation-du-transport\/","title":{"rendered":"What contribution can e-fuels make to decarbonising transport?"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
E-fuels are fuels made from \u2018green\u2019 hydrogen \u2014 i.e.<\/em> produced by a process using the electrolysis of water \u2014 which is then combined with CO2<\/sub> captured either at plant outlets or in the air, to produce methane, methanol or synthetic paraffinic fuels such as e-gasoline, e-gasoil or e-kerosene. Ammonia can also be produced, but by reacting hydrogen with nitrogen instead of CO2<\/sub>.<\/h6>\n\n\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

The problem is that this type of production consumes a huge amount of energy: the renewable electricity needed to produce hydrogen by electrolysis, the energy needed to capture the CO2<\/sub>, then the energy needed either for the methanation<\/a> or hydrogenation reaction of the CO2 <\/sub> to obtain e-methane, or for the other synthesis reactions, often catalytic, to obtain e-fuels (petrol, diesel or paraffin).[1]<\/a><\/sup> The report by the energy industry<\/a> states that most energy consumption is linked to hydrogen production: the efficiency of converting electricity into fuel is between 40% and 60%, depending on the electrolyser used.[2]<\/a><\/sup> So while the synthesis routes for reacting carbon dioxide with hydrogen are mature and well known, they still consume energy during the process. Above all, the production of these fuels relies on a hydrogen production and CO2 <\/sub> capture process which is not yet mature.<\/p>\n

The major advantage of these liquid fuels is that they can replace conventional fossil fuels without any change in use. Their properties are similar to those of fossil fuels, but they have the advantage of being purer, i.e. <\/em>containing less sulphur or aromatic particles (PAHs), which generate pollution. Although these fuels require CO2<\/sub> for their manufacture, thus they do not eliminate it and simply recycle it. But, like fossil fuels, they emit nitrogen oxides and particles during combustion.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n

\n
\n Voir aussi<\/span>\n
\n
\n \n \"\"<\/a>\n <\/span>\n \n Hydrog\u00e8ne : une route encore longue<\/a>\n \n \n <\/use>\n<\/svg>\n <\/a>\n <\/span>\n
\n
13 April 2021<\/div>\n LAMBLIN V\u00e9ronique<\/a>\n
\n 12 p.\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \n <\/use>\n<\/svg>\n\n Analyse prospective\n <\/a>\n \u00c9conomie<\/a>\n Environnement<\/a>\n Science et technique<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

The potential of electrofuels is significant for maritime transport and aviation, as these two sectors are subject to increasingly restrictive European regulations, and direct electrification with batteries is hardly conceivable in the current state of science over very long distances. As a result, the maritime sector must both reduce the fuel consumption of its ships (since July 2023<\/a>) and use fuels whose greenhouse gas content must be reduced by 2% in 2025 and by 80% in 2050. To meet these requirements, the world\u2019s third largest shipping company, CMA-CGM (Compagnie maritime d\u2019affr\u00e8tement-Compagnie g\u00e9n\u00e9rale maritime), believes that battery-powered or hydrogen-powered electric solutions are too bulky to propel container ships. The shipping company will initially order ships that run on liquefied natural gas, but which could later run on biomethane<\/a> or e-methane. The world\u2019s second largest container shipping company, Maersk, announced in 2021 that<\/a> it would invest in partnerships to produce e-methanol (from biogenic CO2<\/sub>)[3]<\/a><\/sup> to decarbonise the fuel used by its ships. It plans to commission<\/a> 19 ships running on e-methanol between 2023 and 2025, to reach its target of 25% green fuel use by 2030<\/a>, using biomethanol and e-methanol.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n

\n
\n Voir aussi<\/span>\n
\n
\n \n \"La<\/a>\n <\/span>\n \n The Shipping Industry: Are Sails the Key to Decarbonising?<\/a>\n \n \n \n <\/use>\n<\/svg>\n <\/a>\n <\/span>\n
\n
18 July 2023<\/div>\n FR\u00c9MONT Antoine<\/a>\n
\n 7 min.\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \n <\/use>\n<\/svg>\n\n Newswatch\n <\/a>\n Environment<\/a>\n Science and Technology<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\n

The major problem is green electricity availability<\/a> to produce these fuels, given the competition from other sectors (transport, industry, housing) for green electricity.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

In the air transport sector<\/a>, the European Parliament recently adopted a directive requiring the incorporation of sustainable aviation fuels: 2% by 2025, 6% by 2030, 20% by 2035, and up to 70% by 2050. The term sustainable fuel covers liquid fuels, biofuels and synthetic fuels derived from hydrogen. Today, these are mainly oils or fats derived from hydrogenated food waste. France is ahead of the game, already requiring aircraft to use 1% sustainable fuel from 2022. However, biofuels are starting to run out, as production is not sufficient to meet demand<\/a>. Air-France\/KLM already had to purchase 17% of the world\u2019s production of aviation biofuels to meet this obligation. In Europe, according to the ReFuelEU Aviation initiative<\/a>, <\/em>the production of sustainable fuels for aviation is currently estimated at 0.24 million tonnes, whereas the expected demand in 2030<\/a> could be 46 million tonnes. To meet European targets, we would therefore need to almost quadruple the production of green fuels by 2025, and multiply it by more than 10 by 2030.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n

\n
\n Voir aussi<\/span>\n
\n
\n \n \"\"<\/a>\n <\/span>\n \n Airvore ou le mythe des transports propres<\/a>\n \n \n \n <\/use>\n<\/svg>\n <\/a>\n <\/span>\n
\n
23 January 2023<\/div>\n LAMBLIN V\u00e9ronique<\/a>\n
\n 4 min.\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \n <\/use>\n<\/svg>\n\n Read, Seen, Heard\n <\/a>\n Environment<\/a>\n Society<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\n

Biofuels and\/or e-fuels?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In France, a significant proportion of the biofuels used in petrol and road diesel are currently imported<\/a>. The country devotes around 3% of its agricultural land to the production of ethanol from cereal crops (added to petrol) and fatty acid methyl esters (FAME) made from oilseeds<\/a> for diesel, but this is still not enough to meet demand, and these so-called first-generation biofuels directly compete with food production.<\/p>\n\n\n<\/div>\n

\n
\n
\n

So-called second-generation biofuels, which use straw and fibre \u2014 in other words, agricultural or forestry waste \u2014 are long overdue. Production processes<\/a> for this second generation, bioTfuel for biokerosene and Futurol for bioethanol, have reached the end of their experimental phase in 2022 in France, but the date for industrial production has not yet been specified. It should be kept in mind, however, that the production of second-generation fuels such as e-fuels will be at least twice as expensive as today\u2019s biofuels, which are themselves three times as expensive as fossil kerozene.<\/p>\n

In addition, to a 14% share of renewable energies in the transport sector as a whole by 2030, a European directive has<\/a> set targets of 3.5% for advanced biofuels, i.e. second-generation biofuels, and biogas by the same date. It confirms the current ceiling on the incorporation of first-generation biofuels.<\/p>\n

To meet these rapidly growing demands for low-carbon fuels (for sea, air and road transport), electric fuels are emerging as an attractive solution, especially in industrial transport sectors that are more difficult to electrify.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n

\n
\n Voir aussi<\/span>\n
\n
\n \n \"\"<\/a>\n <\/span>\n \n Which Technologies for Decarbonizing Transport?<\/a>\n \n \n \n <\/use>\n<\/svg>\n <\/a>\n <\/span>\n
\n
27 February 2023<\/div>\n SAUVANT Alain<\/a>\n AUVERLOT Dominique<\/a>\n
\n 20 p.\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \n <\/use>\n<\/svg>\n\n Journal Article\n <\/a>\n Environment<\/a>\n Science and Technology<\/a>\n Society<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

The automotive industry is also interested in these electric fuels: the game may not yet be completely lost for the combustion car industry. In March 2023<\/a>, during the final stretch of negotiations aimed at achieving a de facto <\/em>ban on combustion-powered cars in 2035, Germany got the European Commission to include<\/a> a legal route for the marketing of combustion-powered cars running on e-fuels. But the outcome of this new legislative process will not be known until autumn 2024.<\/p>\n

E-fuels are contested by environmentalists<\/a> for their electricity consumption. According to the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Transport & Environment<\/a>, it would take five times as much electricity to drive 100 kilometres in a car running on e-fuel as in an electric car. Moreover, the European Union\u2019s Renewable Energy Directive (RED)<\/a> allows them to reduce their CO2<\/sub> emissions by only 70% compared with fossil fuels, allowing the use of hydrogen of fossil origin, thus these fuels would then emit more CO2<\/sub> than electric vehicles<\/a>. They are seen as an attempt to maintain internal combustion engines beyond 2035, while these energy-intensive e-fuels will at best be reserved for very long-distance transport or niche uses (collector vehicles, motor sport) if direct or indirect electrification via hydrogen is deemed too restrictive. According to the NGO, synthetic petrol would cost 50% more than fossil petrol (estimated at \u20ac2.82 per litre in 2030 in France).<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n

\n
\n Voir aussi<\/span>\n
\n
\n \n \"\"<\/a>\n <\/span>\n \n Fin des moteurs thermiques en 2035 : quels impacts ?<\/a>\n \n \n <\/use>\n<\/svg>\n <\/a>\n <\/span>\n
\n
14 December 2021<\/div>\n LAMBLIN V\u00e9ronique<\/a>\n
\n 9 p.\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \n <\/use>\n<\/svg>\n\n Analyse prospective\n <\/a>\n \u00c9conomie<\/a>\n Science et technique<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n

For the moment, the reality is well below this estimate. The only plant producing e-fuels on an industrial scale in the world, the Chilean plant run by Porsche and Siemens<\/a>, which opened in December 2022, aims to produce 130,000 litres of e-fuel a year, but at a cost 100 times higher than ordinary petrol (i.e. \u20ac50 a litre). In France, there are 24 projects<\/a> to produce synthetic fuels, mainly kerosene and methanol, with a capacity equivalent to 528,000 tonnes of oil equivalent and a cost of \u20ac3.6 billion. However, if all the projects go ahead, this production will require 14 terawatt-hours (TWh) per year, or the equivalent of 3% of France\u2019s electricity production in 2022, in addition to CO2<\/sub> capture, to produce less than 10% of the country\u2019s fuel consumption for air transport (kerosene) in 2022<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As it will be necessary to be able to manufacture green hydrogen in large quantities and at low cost in order to produce e-fuels, we cannot expect any significant production of these fuels before at least 2035. Until then, the hope of increasing the proportion of liquid fuels that emit less greenhouse gas in very long-distance transport rests primarily on the development of lignocellulosic biofuels (second generation). This is all the more true given that advances in genetic engineering, in particular the use of CRISPR-Cas9 molecular scissors[4]<\/a><\/sup> offer hope that bacteria can be modified to produce ethanol from cellulose with good yields. The production of e-fuels is more energy-intensive than second-generation biofuels (cellulose) but has the advantage, in the long term, of using no biomass at all.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n

\n
\n Voir aussi<\/span>\n
\n
\n \n \"\"<\/a>\n <\/span>\n \n Technical Progress \u2014 the Key to the Energy Transition? What Technologies, for what Sectors and on what Timescale?<\/a>\n \n \n \n <\/use>\n<\/svg>\n <\/a>\n <\/span>\n
\n
27 April 2020<\/div>\n PAPON Pierre<\/a>\n
\n 18 p.\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n
\n \n \n <\/use>\n<\/svg>\n\n Article Revue\n <\/a>\n Environment<\/a>\n Science and Technology<\/a>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div>\n
\n\n\n\n

——————–
N.B.:<\/em> this article has been translated from French by DeepL, and revised by the author and Futuribles.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n

    \n
  1. \n

    Via the Fischer-Tropsch process on a synthetic gas, high temperature co-electrolysis or other processes using synthetic alcohols such as Methanol-to-Gasoline. <\/em>See the technical details in the Briefing Note on Electrofuels<\/a> from Evolen\u2019s e-fuels working group, February 2023. \u2191<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  2. \n

    On a LHV basis. The yield is the ratio between the lower calorific value (LCV) of the synthetic liquid fuel produced (44 megajoules per kilo [MJ\/kg]) and the amount of electricity consumed to produce it (mainly from the consumption of the electrolyser). A gain in efficiency can be obtained by using the heat released by the Fischer-Tropsch synthesis, which is exothermic. \u2191<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  3. \n

    Biogenic carbon is the carbon fixed by the plant following photosynthesis from CO2<\/sub> in the air. \u2191<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n

  4. \n

    CRISPR: Clustered Regularly Interspaced Palindromic Repeats; Cas9 is the most commonly associated enzyme and stands for \u2018CRISPR associated protein 9\u2019. \u2191<\/a><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    E-fuels are fuels made from \u2018green\u2019 hydrogen \u2014 i.e. produced by a process using the electrolysis of water \u2014 which is then combined with CO2 captured either at plant outlets or in the air, to produce methane, methanol or synthetic paraffinic fuels such as e-gasoline, e-gasoil or e-kerosene. Ammonia can also be produced, but by reacting … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":82904,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"none","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"both","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":301,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[140],"tags":[202,210],"keyword":[962,1251,1145,949,1064],"class_list":["post-87133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-newswatch","tag-environnement-en","tag-science-et-technique-en","keyword-biotechnologie-en","keyword-transition-en","keyword-energie-electrique-en","keyword-industrie-en","keyword-transport-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/25"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87133"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":99219,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87133\/revisions\/99219"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82904"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87133"},{"taxonomy":"keyword","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.futuribles.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/keyword?post=87133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}