HIF’s “Haru Oni” project is a 3.7-hectare, $55 million site that aims to demonstrate a viable commercial process for converting air, water and air into synthetic fuels that can be used from cars to ships while reducing carbon emissions. can be done up to Everything can be done to steer an airplane. ,
Featuring a wind turbine, carbon capture system and facilities capable of producing 130,000 liters of fuel a year, the project is still under construction, but due for commissioning and production of synthetic gasoline later this year. defined.
HIF’s manufacturing process uses wind-generated electricity to separate water into hydrogen and oxygen through a process called electrolysis. Meanwhile, carbon dioxide is captured from atmospheric air and industrial sources. Hydrogen is synthesized by mixing with carbon dioxide in e-fuel.
HIF USA Executive Director Meg Gentle said the process can be used to make all types of everyday fuel, including methanol, propane, gasoline and jet fuel, that can be used by standard engines without modification. . , Is. “Basically, anything that can be refined from crude oil can also be made this way,” she said.
Much of the focus for decarbonizing transport has been on the production of electric vehicles (EVs). Gentle argued, “we don’t need eFuel to compete against an EV,” and suggested that EV and eFuel could exist together – the latter using existing cars and infrastructure such as plumbing and gas. Huh. Huh. Huh. Help accelerate the decarbonization of the transport sector. station.
“The environmental reliability of such projects depends on the processes and sources of CO2,” said Anna Korey, Professor of Environmental Engineering at Imperial College, London.
Mark Barrett, Professor of Energy and Environmental Systems Modeling at the UCL Energy Institute, explained, “If the CO2 input from the atmosphere is captured and renewable electricity is used, the fuel will be close to zero (net carbon emissions). ”
Gentle said the Chile facility will use “very small amounts” of waste CO2 generated by local industry, much of which will come from direct air carbon capture. Korey said that a life cycle assessment study of the product would be needed to support any claim of carbon neutrality.
E-Fuel and Transport Sector
As well as light transport, green hydrogen-based fuels could help make heavy transport more sustainable, while current electric battery technology does not pack enough power to fuel cargo ships and commercial airplanes.
HIF is already exploring synthetic jet fuel – kerosene – and is looking to partner with airlines to pilot the technology. Furthermore, Gentle recognizes that the current process is less efficient than HIF’s production of e-gasoline.
“Synthetic fuels have the potential to reduce emissions in areas of transportation that currently cannot be powered by batteries,” Cor said. “There are also some sustainability and safety issues related to the battery, including concerns about mineral resource extraction and associated pollution, which synthetic fuels would avoid.”
“We are seeing a rapid increase in scientific and engineering efforts and these are being accelerated by protecting supply concerns around fossil fuels,” he said.
Gentle spoke at a panel at the World Government Summit in Dubai on March 28, where David Livingston, John Kerry’s senior adviser to the US special presidential envoy for climate, said the Ukraine conflict resulted in a rise in the price of natural gas . The speed has arrived. may come. More activity in the US hydrogen energy sector.
E-Fuel Industry Development
HIF’s demonstration plant will be capable of producing 1,000 barrels of e-gasoline per day, Gentle said. This falls short of its long-term plans for 12 commercial-sized plants spread across Chile, the US and Australia at a cost of $50 billion. Each plant will be capable of producing 14,000 barrels a day. Doing so would require 2,000 megawatts of electricity and capture about 2 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year, she explained.
At some stage of this significant increase, Gentle says, production costs will drop to the point where HIF will be competitive with fossil fuel prices. She compared that path to renewables such as wind power, which needed government support before reaching the tipping point.
“In the space of this decade, we want to be competitive, face to face with fossil-based alternatives,” Gentle said.
Barrett doubts he will be able to do this without outside help. “Zero carbon fuels will always cost much more to produce than fossil fuels,” he argued. “Either emissions limits should be imposed on sectors such as aviation, or high carbon taxes on fossil fuels, or subsidies on zero carbon fuels; or some combination thereof.”
With such grand plans and proof of concept, you would be forgiven for thinking that HIF sees itself as an energy blocker.
The executive director of HIF sees it otherwise. “Many times, disruptors destabilize things until they are newly adopted,” Gentle said. “We see this as creating an additional stabilization factor in this journey to decarbonize.”
“It’s a win-win for the environment, energy and economic security,” she said.