E-diesel

E-diesel is the name of synthetic diesel created by Audi to be used in automobiles. Currently, an e-diesel variant is created by Audi
research facility in partnership with a company named Sunfire. The fuel is created from carbon dioxide, water, and electricity with a
process powered by renewable energy sources to create a liquid energy carrier called blue crude (in contrast to regular crude oil)
which is then refined to generate e-diesel. E-diesel is considered to be a carbon-neutral fuel as it does not extract new carbon and the
energy sources to drive the process are from carbon-neutral sources. As of April 2015, an Audi A8 driven by Federal Minister of
Education and Researchin Germany is using the e-diesel fuel.[1][2]

Contents
Catalytic conversions
Properties
Oxygen by-product
Biocatalytic conversions
Similar initiatives
See also
References
External links

Catalytic conversions
Sunfire, a clean technology company, operates a pilot plant in Dresden, Germany. The current process involves high-temperature
electrolysis powered by electricity generated from renewable energy sources to split water into hydrogen and oxygen. The next two
chemical processes to create a liquid energy carrier called blue crude are done at a temperature of 220 °C (428 °F) and a pressure of
25 bars (2,500 kPa). In a conversion step, hydrogen and carbon dioxide are used to create syngas with water as byproduct. The
syngas, which containscarbon monoxide and hydrogen, reacts to generate the blue crude.

Sunfire power-to-liquids system: Base products are carbon dioxide (CO [3]
2) and water (H2O)

1st step: Electrolysis of Water (SOEC) −water is split into hydrogen and oxygen.
2nd step: Conversion Reactor (RWGSR) −hydrogen and carbon dioxide are inputs to the
Conversion Reactor that outputs hydrogen, carbon monoxide, and water.
3rd step: F-T Reactor −hydrogen and carbon monoxide are inputs[4][5] to the F-T Reactor
that outputs paraffinic and olefinic hydrocarbons, ranging from methane to high molecular
weight waxes.[6]

The final step is also known as Fischer–Tropsch process which was first developed in 1925 by German chemists Franz Fischer and
Hans Tropsch. After the blue crude is produced, it can be refined to create e-diesel on site, saving the fuel and other infrastructure
costs on crude transportation.[7][8] As of April 2015, Sunfire has a capability to produce a limited amount of fuel at 160 litres
[9]
(35 imp gal; 42 US gal) a day. There is a plan to increase the production to an industrial scale.

Audi also partners with a company named Climeworks which manufactures carbon dioxide capturing machines. Climeworks
technologies can absorb atmospheric carbon dioxide which is chemically captured at the surface of a sorbent until it becomes
saturated. At that point, the sorbent is introduced with 95 °C (203 °F) heat in a desorption cycle to drive out the high-purity carbon
dioxide that can be used during the conversion step of the blue crude generation process. The atmospheric carbon dioxide capturing
process has 90% of energy demand in the form of low-temperature heat and the rest from electrical energy for pumping and control.
The combined plant of Climeworks and Sunfire in Dresden became operational in November 2014.[7] A plant on Herøya in Norway,
producing 10 million liters per year, is being considered, as CO2 from a fertilizer plant is readily available and electricity is relatively
cheap in Norway.[10]

Properties
As much as eighty percent of blue crude can be converted into e-diesel. The fuel contains no sulfur or aromatics, and has a high
cetane number. These properties allow it to be blended with typical fossil diesel and used as a replacement fuel in automobiles with
diesel engines.[7]

Oxygen by-product
In future designs,[11][12] the oxygen by-product may be combined with renewable natural gas[13] in the oxidative coupling of
methane to ethylene:[14][15]

2CH4 + O2 → C2H4 + 2H2O

The reaction is exothermic (∆H = -280 kJ/mol) and occurs at high temperatures (750–950 ˚C).[16] The yield of the desired C2
products is reduced by non-selective reactions of methyl radicals with the reactor surface and oxygen, which produces carbon
monoxide and carbon dioxide by-products. Another ethylene production initiative developed by the European Commission through
the Seventh Framework Programme for Research and Technological Development is the OCMOL process, which is the Oxidative
.[17]
Coupling of Methane (OCM) and simultaneous Reforming of Methane (RM) in a fully integrated reactor

Biocatalytic conversions
Audi also partners with a United States company, Joule, to develop
Joule's Sunflow-D as e-diesel for Audi. Joule's plant in New Mexico
involves the use of genetically modified microorganisms in bright
sunlight to act as a catalyst for the conversion of carbon dioxide and
salty water into hydrocarbons.[7][18] The process can be modified for
longer molecular chains to produce alkanes in order to create
synthetic diesel.[19][20][21][22]

Joule Unlimited is the first company to patent a modified organism

that continuously secretes hydrocarbon fuel. The organism is a
single-celled cyanobacterium, also known as blue-green algae, Helioculture combinesbrackish water (or
graywater), nutrients, photosynthetic organisms,
although it is technically not an algae. It produces the fuel using
carbon dioxide, and sunlight to create fuel.
photosynthesis, the same process that multi-cellular green plants use,
to make sugars and other materials from water, carbon dioxide, and
sunlight.[23]

Similar initiatives
There are other initiatives to create synthetic fuel from carbon dioxide and water, however they are not part of Audi's initiatives and
the fuels are not called e-diesel. Thewater splitting methods vary.

Concentrated solar power

2004 Sunshine-to-Petrol –Sandia National Laboratories.[24][25][26][27][28][29]

( and Weizmann Institute of Science.[30][31][32][33]
2013 NewCO2Fuels – New CO2 Fuels Ltd IL)
 2014 Solar-Jet Fuels – Consortium partnersETH Zurich, Royal Dutch Shell, DLR, Bauhaus Luftfahrt,
ARTTIC.[34][35][36][37][38][39]
High-temperature electrolysis

2004 Syntrolysis Fuels –Idaho National Laboratoryand Ceramatec, Inc. (US).[40][41][42][43][44][45]

2008 WindFuels – Doty Energy (US).[46][47]
[48][49][50][51][52]
2012 Air Fuel Synthesis – Air Fuel Synthesis Ltd (UK).
2013 Green Feed – Ben-Gurion University of the Negevand Israel Strategic Alternative Energy Foundation (I-
SAEF).[53][54][55][56]
2014 E-diesel[57][58][59]

The U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) is designing a power-to-liquids system using the Fischer-Tropsch Process to create fuel
on board a ship at sea,[60] with the base products carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O) being derived from sea water via "An
Electrochemical Module Configuration For The Continuous Acidification Of Alkaline Water Sources And Recovery Of CO2 With
Continuous Hydrogen Gas Production".[61][62]

See also
Power to gas
Gas to liquids
Energy storage
Alternative fuel
Renewable fuel
Alternative energy
Renewable energy
Earth's energy budget
Renewable energy debate
Synthetic fuel commercialization

References
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External links
Sustainable Transportation Fuels from Off-Peak Wind Energy, CO2, and Water
Options to dissociate CO2 for sustainable sunlight-to-fuel pathways
Perspectives in electrolysis andCO2 recycling
Chemical Processes for a Sustainable Future - ch 8. Renewable Energy
, CO2 and an Anthropogenic Carbon Cycle

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