E-fuel, what is it?
In short, e-fuel - read: ecological, differs from its traditional counterparts mainly in the way they are obtained. The latter includes a synthetic method using water and carbon dioxide, as well as using environmentally friendly electricity and solar energy. As with well-known fossil fuels, among synthetic fuels we can also find e-gasoline, e-diesel and e-gas.
Neutral, what does that mean?
Very often ecological synthetic fuels are called neutral. What is it about? The term is based on their relationship to carbon dioxide. The aforementioned neutrality means that carbon dioxide is both a component necessary for the production of e-fuel and a by-product of its combustion. So much for theory. However, in practice, it is carbon dioxide that enters the atmosphere along with exhaust gases. Pro-environmental enthusiasts of new fuels argue that the latter are much cleaner than the exhaust gases of engines running on traditional fossil fuels.
Sulfur and benzene free
So, let's start with the most commonly used fuel - gasoline. Its synthetic counterpart is e-gasoline. Crude oil is not required for the production of this ecological fuel, as it is replaced by liquid isooctane. The latter is obtained from an organic chemical compound from the group of hydrocarbons called isobutylene and hydrogen. E-gasoline is characterized by a very high ROZ (Research Oktan Zahl - the so-called research octane number), reaching 100. For comparison, the octane number of gasoline derived from crude oil ranges from 91-98. The advantage of e-gasoline is also its purity - it does not contain sulfur and benzene. Thus, the combustion process is very clean, and the high octane number results in a significant increase in the compression ratio, which in turn leads to an increase in the efficiency of gasoline engines.
Blue Crude - almost electronic diesel
Unlike traditional diesel fuel, electrodiesel is also used as a synthetic fuel. Interestingly, to create it, you need ingredients that have nothing to do with working in diesel units, such as ... water, carbon dioxide and electricity. So how is e-diesel made? The first of the above ingredients, water, is heated to a temperature of about 800 degrees C during the electrolysis process. Turning it into steam, it decomposes into hydrogen and oxygen. The hydrogen in the fusion reactors then reacts with carbon dioxide in subsequent chemical processes. Both operate at a temperature of around 220°C and a pressure of 25 bar. As part of the synthesis processes, an energy fluid called Blue Crude is obtained, the composition of which is based on hydrocarbon compounds. After its refinement, it will be possible to talk about synthetic e-diesel fuel. This fuel has a high cetane number and does not contain harmful sulfur compounds.
With synthetic methane
And finally, something for car gas lovers, but not in the most popular version of LPG, which is a mixture of propane and butane, but in CNG natural gas. The third type of ecological fuel, e-gas, has nothing to do with what drives car engines after technical improvements. To produce this type of fuel, ordinary water and electricity are needed. During electrolysis, water is split into oxygen and hydrogen. Only the latter is needed for further purposes. Hydrogen reacts with carbon dioxide. This process, called methanation, produces a chemical structure of electron gas similar to that of natural gas. It is important to note that as a result of its extraction, by-products are harmless substances such as oxygen and water.
