The role of electrofuels: A cost-effective solution for future transport?

• Electrofuels (also known as e.g., power-to-gas/liquids/fuels, e-fuels, or synthetic fuels) are synthetichydrocarbons, e.g. methane or methanol, produced from carbon dioxide (CO2) and water with electricity as primary energy source. The CO2 can be captured from various industrial processes giving rise to excess CO2 e.g. biofuel production plants, and fossil and biomass combustionplants. Electrofuels are interesting at least for the following reasons: (i) electrofuels may play an importantrole as transport fuels in the future due to limitations with other options and are potentially of interestfor all transport modes, (ii) electrofuels could be used to store intermittent electricity production,and (iii) electrofuels potentially provide an opportunity for biofuel producers to increase the yield from the same amount of biomass. The overall purpose of this project is to deepen the knowledge of electrofuels by mapping andanalyzing the technical and economic potential and by analyzing the potential role of electrofuels inthe future energy system aiming to reach stringent climate targets. The specific project targets include:(i) Mapping of the technical potential for CO2-recovering from Swedish production plants forbiofuels for transport and combustion plants.(ii) A review and analysis of different electrofuel production pathways and associated costsand an overall comparison with the production cost of other renewable transport fuels.(iii) An analysis of the potential conditions under which electrofuels are cost-effective comparedto other alternative fuels for transport in order to reach stringent climate targets. Main conclusions are: (1)Electrofuels used in combustion engines demand significantly more energy compared tobattery electric vehicles and hydrogen used in fuel cells, (2) Compared to biofuels, our estimates of the production costs of electrofuels are in the samesize of order but in the upper range or above, (3) The results of the energy system modelling indicate that electrofuels is not the most costefficientoption for road transport. Thus, it is not likely that electrofuels can compete withcurrent conventional fuels in road transportation (unless there are higher taxes on fossilCO2-emissions), (4) Under some circumstances (e.g., when assuming relatively high costs for other options),electrofuels may be able to complement battery electric vehicles and hydrogen used in fuelcells in a scenario reaching almost zero CO2 emissions in the global road transport sector, (5) The cost-competitiveness of electrofuels depends on e.g. the availability of advanced CO2reduction technologies such as CCS, and costs for the competing technologies, but also onthe costs and efficiencies of synthesis reactors and electrolysers for the electrofuel productionas well as the electricity price, (6) In the short term, renewable CO2 does not seem to be a limiting factor for electrofuels.However, the demand for renewable electricity represents a possible limiting factor especiallyin the case of large-scale production of electrofuels. The production cost may alsorepresent a challenge.

Subject headings

TEKNIK OCH TEKNOLOGIER  -- Naturresursteknik -- Energisystem (hsv//swe)

ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY  -- Environmental Engineering -- Energy Systems (hsv//eng)

Keyword

cost

electrofuels

sunfuels

alternative fuels

potential

carbon dioxide

production

Publication and Content Type

rap (subject category)

vet (subject category)