Synthetic fuels will be indispensable for a CO₂-free future!
PtX stands for “Power-to-X”:
In the PtX process, electricity from wind power, photovoltaics and the like is used to produce hydrogen, for example by electrolysis, whereby this hydrogen obtained using carbon dioxide (for example by carbon capturing from industrial exhaust gases, ship exhaust gases) in a synthesis process (e.g. Fischer-Tropsch) is converted to liquid fuel such as methane.
If this process is carried out using electricity from renewable sources, then it is a “green” PtX process which can be used to generate “green eLG”.
How important is PtX for us as at KR&P?
With biofuels we have to weigh up whether to grow crops for fuel or for food. This is not the case with synthetic fuels. PtX fuels can also be produced from renewables without the expected limits on quantity we have with biofuels due to a limited cultivable area. From an economic point of view, the energy transformation process is an additional cost factor that can be made more generally acceptable by introducing synthetic fuels, since we can build on the existing energy infrastructure.
What is important to us at KR&P:
Climate change and the foreseeable consequences restrict our courses of action. Therefore, we think it would be conducive to follow a path that should not only be based on what is technologically feasible, but on what we can achieve with the means currently available to us.
We face the enormous challenge of promptly fulfilling a practically impossible task by striking a balance between politics and efforts which are technically feasible and possible in the future as well as being socially and politically acceptable, legally required and economically justifiable.
Carbon dioxide (CO₂ fuels):
Carbon dioxide can serve as a carbon source for the production of liquid fuels. The gas generated using CO₂ and H₂ can be used by Fischer-Tropsch synthesis to produce fuels such as gasoline or diesel.
Methanol is of great importance as a synthesis gas by-product in the fuel sector in the form of derivatives MTBE, dimethyl carbonate (DMC) and dimethyl ether (DME).
Methanol with an octane number of 100 or dimethyl carbonate (DMC) with an octane number of 110 are alternatives to gasoline. Dimethyl ether (DME) with a cetane number of 55-60 is an alternative to diesel fuel.
Once again, these methods only make sense if hydrogen from renewable energy sources is used.
Thus, synthetic fuels can make gasoline and diesel CO₂-neutral and make a major contribution to limiting global warming.