The future of synthetic fuels from renewable sources

It is becoming increasingly clear that synthetic fuels made from renewable raw material sources will mark a before and after in the fight against climate change. Using these fuels instead of conventional ones (from fossil and finite sources) could reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions by up to 90%. In addition, the use of synthetic fuels from renewable sources makes it possible to continue using the existing vehicle fleets with combustion engines, the refueling infrastructure, and a good part of everything that already exists around the car with a combustion engine.

Olaf Toedter’s team from the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in Germany has carried out extensive tests with various vehicles in a large-scale project with industry partners and has shown that synthetic fuels from renewable sources can be used in all vehicles and be produced in quantities large enough to cover all demand.

Toedter and his colleagues have produced tons of synthetic fuels from renewable sources and found that such fuels, compared to conventional ones, do not cause any extra wear and tear on the car when used extensively. Tests have been performed on many engine models, both gasoline-based and diesel-based types. Depending on the mixing ratio of synthetic and fossil fuels, the starting materials used and the energies used, reductions in CO2 emissions of between 22 and 90 percent have been achieved.

Unlike fossil fuels, fuels from renewable sources have the potential to be carbon neutral. It is called “carbon neutral” fuel that when used releases the same amount of carbon that was absorbed in the manufacturing process. For example, if vegetables are used as raw material, they absorb from the air during their growth the same amount of carbon that will be released into the air when the fuel made from them is burned in an engine.

Synthetic fuels made from renewable raw material sources can be used in almost all vehicles. The new study also confirms that such fuels could be produced in quantities large enough to meet demand. (Photo: Markus Breig / Amadeus Bramsiepe / KIT)

One of the next steps in this line of research and development is for the project’s industrial partners to build a factory to produce synthetic fuels from renewable sources.

The idea is that, in the long term, fossil fuel sources can be replaced by renewable sources. In any case, fossil fuel sources, by their nature, will not last forever. In fact, according to some estimates, they have already entered the beginning of their twilight. (Font: NCYT by Amazings)