Yahoo Autos Porsche's Plan to Produce (Nearly) Carbon-Neutral Gasoline in Texas
Is Porsche on to something? Last June, the German automaker announced that it was investing $75 million and acquiring a 12.5-percent stake in HIF Global LLC, a Chilean company that is producing what’s called “e-fuel,” sustainably-produced gasoline and other conventional fuels produced unconventionally—using hydrogen produced via wind power and captured carbon dioxide (CO2). Fossil fuels for transportation appear doomed globally because of their major contribution to climate change, but HIF thinks it can produce viable replicas in a process that is “nearly” carbon neutral. When burned, e-fuels will still produce tailpipe emissions, of course.
HIF’s first plant, in partnership with ExxonMobil (which is providing its methanol-to-gasoline technology) and Siemens as well as Porsche, is in Chile. But it plans to expand in a big way into the U.S., with as many as a dozen locations.
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Michael Steiner, a member of Porsche’s executive board for research and development, said in conjunction with the announcement, “We see ourselves as pioneers in e-fuels and want to drive the technology. This is one building block in our clear, overall sustainability strategy.”
One reason European companies are taking a keen interest in e-fuels is that they’re under study by the European Parliament as a possible loophole in the law banning sale of new internal-combustion vehicles by 2035. Manufacturers are being asked to demonstrate e-fuel’s feasibility by 2026. For that reason, e-fuel has a higher profile in Europe now than it does in the U.S., though that could change. The European law, which exempts fossil fuels in heavy trucks and buses, was finalized in mid-February.
The company’s pilot plant, Haru Oni, in Punta Arenas, Chile officially opened last December with the “ceremonial fueling” of a Porsche 911. The hydrogen is produced via electrolysis of water; a 3.4-megawatt Siemens Gamesa wind turbine co-located with the plant powers the process. Future upgrades will add a lot more wind power.
The location in southernmost Chile makes sense because the wind blows there 270 days a year. In the pilot phase, HIF plans to produce approximately 34,000 gallons of its e-gasoline and send it to Porsche for use in motorsports events such as the Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup, as well as at the company’s experience centers. But by the middle of the decade HIF says the plant will be capable of producing 14.5 million gallons of fuel annually. Two years later, the company says the plant will be up to its full capacity—145.3 million gallons of gasoline and methanol.
But Chile is just the start. HIF is also building a plant in Australia, in northwest Tasmania, producing enough fuel annually to decarbonize five million vehicles. And there’s a third one in Texas. Yes, Texas. The state may harbor some suspicion about fossil-fuel bans, but it is also home to one of the country’s best wind resources—the state’s High Plains region alone has more than 11,000 wind turbines.
The $6 billion plant will be built by the Houston-based U.S. arm of HIF near Bay City, Texas. The Peyton Creek Wind Farm, a huge 151-megawatt facility, opened in Matagorda County (where Bay City is located) in 2020. Bechtel is working on front-end engineering and design of the HIF plant, with construction to begin in the first quarter of 2024.
HIF says the Texas plant will produce its first e-fuel in 2027, initially 14,000 barrels per day, or 200 million gallons annually. It plans to make synthetic e-methanol, e-gasoline and e-liquified petroleum gas. Asked how the fuel will be used, HIF said, “The products can be sold anywhere in the U.S. and are considered ‘drop-in’ fuels because they can be used by existing infrastructure and engines. They have the highest value in places that also have economic rewards for low-carbon alternatives.”
HIF says the best such carbon market is in California, which like Europe has 2035 as a fossil fuel deadline for new cars. New York, New Jersey, Washington State and Massachusetts are following California’s lead, and other states are taking parts of California’s plans. In a statement to Jalopnik, HIF said its e-gasoline could keep the huge number of internal-combustion cars in those states running on near-carbon-neutral fuel after 2035. In a statement, the company said, “California’s prohibition on internal-combustion vehicles is on sale of new vehicles. E-fuels can be used by existing vehicles until they reach the end of their useful life, thereby providing a decarbonization pathway for existing infrastructure, a complement to electrification of new infrastructure.”
