Although it emits emissions, electro-fuel has the advantage of being produced from recycled CO2, and therefore of offering carbon neutrality.
It could be an essential link in the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, pending the development of biofuels likely to provide a serious alternative to hydrocarbons.
A new type of fuel is emerging that could help reduce CO2 emissions. It is not biofuel, but electro-fuel. If both are more virtuous to produce and aim to replace gasoline, diesel and kerosene, biofuel is made from plants, while electro-fuel is designed from green hydrogen. and especially of CO2 recovered from the air. Above all, it can be used in current engines.
Electro-fuel could therefore suppress factory emissions, since it is in their fumes that it will seek its raw material.
Although it also releases CO2 into the atmosphere, it is nevertheless recycled CO2 that should already have been released by manufacturers.
This is obviously not ideal, but in many sectors electro-fuel is required as the only solution to achieve carbon neutrality.
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The need for an intermediate solution but an expensive fuel
Take air transport or cargo by ship. Today there is no viable alternative to fuel oil or kerosene. We are talking about electric boats or hydrogen planes, but these are extremely distant projects. It should also be remembered that a tanker or an aircraft remains in service for easily 30 years. Either way, the transition will take a very long time. This is why intermediate and rapidly applicable solutions, such as electro-fuel, are essential.
Nevertheless, electro-fuel promises to be twice as expensive as fuel oil or kerosene. This is its main flaw. But he should benefit from subsidies. Grouped within the same consortium, four European partners announced in June the construction of a production site in Norway, which aims to produce 100 million liters by 2026.