Project EcoFuel: Renewable Electricity-Based, Cyclic and Economic Production of Fuel

Abstract E-fuels, produced from CO 2 using renewable electricity, currently suffer from low energy efficiency, hence high energy demand, related high cost and are therefore not yet produced at industrial scale. To be commercially viable, e-fuels production pathways require the availability of vast amounts of low-cost electricity. The Horizon 2020 project EcoFuel, with the aim of overcoming these deficiencies, develops and demonstrates a novel process chain that significantly improves the energy efficiency for production of synthetic fuel out of CO 2 and water using renewable energy. The process chain comprises a) the supply of CO 2 from the atmosphere via a novel direct air capture (DAC) approach, b) direct electro-catalytic reduction of CO 2 to C2/C3 hydrocarbons at close to ambient temperatures, and c) thermo-catalytic liquefaction of alkenes, upgrading and fractionation into transport fuels. The direct electro-catalytic CO 2 reduction to hydrocarbons offers greatly enhanced efficiency potentials compared to Power-to-X technologies downstream of water electrolysis and at the same time, reduces process pathway steps. Overarching objectives of EcoFuel are to reduce primary energy demand, to enhance resource and cost efficiency of production, minimize the environmental footprint of the process, and to demonstrate the ecological and economic advantage.