Synthetic fuel manufacturing facility announced for Tasmania
Australia will soon produce synthetic gasoline and LPG, thanks to a new facility under construction in northwestern Tasmania.
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Tasmania will soon be home to Australia’s first synthetic fuel plant.
Global synthetic fuel company HIF – which has received financial support from Porsche – has announced the establishment of HIF Tasmania, with the island nation to produce up to 100 million liters of carbon-neutral synthetic fuel per year.
Synthetic fuels (or eFuels) are produced by harvesting CO2 from the environment, and then using renewable electricity to make hydrogen and combining it with the captured CO2 to produce different products used in cars and airplanes.
The idea is that vehicles will only emit CO2 that has been captured and removed from the environment, rather than releasing new CO2 into the atmosphere by burning hydrocarbons derived from oil.
HIF Tasmania said it would produce ‘eGasoline’ as a substitute for unleaded gasoline for use in cars, as well as LPG and jet fuel.
“Porsche is investing in an attractive business area with its stake in HIF Global,” said Michael Steiner, Member of the Executive Board for Research and Development at Porsche, in April 2022.
“Synthetic fuels offer exciting prospects across the transportation sector, from the automotive industry to the aviation and shipping sectors.”
Instead of capturing CO2 from the atmosphere, the Tasmanian facility – located about 30 kilometers south of Burnie – will collect CO2 from biogenic sources, which could include combustion, decomposition or processing of biologically based materials.
The company says it will save 260,000 tonnes of CO2 emissions annually when the plant starts operating in mid-2026.
“Our global plan is to produce more than eight billion liters of carbon-neutral eFuel per year – enough to decarbonize five million vehicles,” said HIF Global CEO Cesar Norton in the announcement.
“Australia has tremendous renewable energy resources that can be converted into liquid fuels and used in existing engines,” he said.
“Today, we are taking our first steps in Tasmania to produce hydrogen from renewable energy, capture carbon dioxide from biogenic sources, and produce highly competitive eFuels that will be the carbon neutral energy of the future.”
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The news comes just days after the European Union approved proposed legislation that would mandate a 100 percent reduction in exhaust emissions from new cars by 2035 – but with last-minute exceptions for internal combustion engines powered by eFuels.
It is believed pressure from Germany and Japan – home to many of the world’s largest automakers – is leading to the provision of synthetic fuels, which are expected to help reduce carbon footprints in some countries that do not have the infrastructure or financial capacity to switch to electricity. vehicle within the specified period.
In addition to the potential environmental benefits, Tasmanian facilities can also play an important role in Australia’s fuel security, with most of the country’s fuel currently refined overseas and vulnerable to supply chain disruptions.
HIF Tasmania says construction of its factory will begin in 2024, and will “[prioritise] local workforce and technology”.
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