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22/07/11/0326228 story

Porsche-Backed E-Fuels Maker to Build $1B Australian Plant

posted by hubie on Tuesday July 12 2022, @02:42AM   
from the green-green-gas-of-home dept.

upstart writes:

Porsche-backed e-fuels maker to build $1b Australian plant:

E-fuels group HIF Global, which is backed by Porsche, has chosen Tasmania as the site for a $1 billion production plant for synthetic green fuels, confirming a take-off in major decarbonisation investments amid growing momentum towards net zero emissions.

The plant, to be located south of Burnie in the north-west of the island state, would produce up to 100 million litres a year of carbon-neutral e-fuels once fully operational. Construction is targeted to begin in 2024 just after financial close.

HIF, which is 12.5 per cent owned by Porsche, flagged earlier this year it was examining prospective sites in northern Queensland, Victoria and Tasmania to build a plant in Australia, with access to renewable energy and strong winds as important factors to consider.

[...] The plant will use renewable energy to split water into oxygen and hydrogen using a 250 megawatt capacity electrolyser. Carbon dioxide is then filtered from the air and is combined with the green hydrogen to produce synthetic methanol, which is then converted into fuel using a methanol-to-gasoline technology licensed by ExxonMobil. The water used in the electrolysis process will be primarily extracted from biowaste.

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Original Submission

• interesting interesting (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday July 12 2022, @03:58AM (1 child)

  by khallow (3766) on Tuesday July 12 2022, @03:58AM (#1260031) Journal

  This sounds to me like a green energy subsidy play. That is, every aspect of the plant from how it's powered to its synthetic fuel product is intended to pull in local Australian subsidies and maybe sell carbon emissions credits (probably in European markets).

  • Re:interesting (Score: 4, Interesting) by c0lo on Tuesday July 12 2022, @04:51AM

    by c0lo (156) on Tuesday July 12 2022, @04:51AM (#1260039) Journal

    every aspect of the plant from how it's powered to its synthetic fuel product is intended to pull in local Australian German subsidies and maybe sell carbon emissions credits (probably in European markets) use the carbon-neutral fuel for European sport cars

    Not like there is a single possible course of action [renews.biz]

    Porsche-backed HIF Global wants to build an e-fuel plant in north-west Tasmania. [abc.net.au]

    Climate Council senior researcher Tim Baxter says ideally all cars would be electrified, but there are situations where that isn't feasible, with hydrogen and e-fuels looming as possible alternatives.

    "For Porsche, moving into Burnie … what they're looking at is something for their consumers who really want the old-school Porsches running as a Porsche does. They need to find some alternative to petrol fuel and e-fuels are an alternative there," he says.
    ...
    HIF Asia Pacific chief executive Ignacio Hernandez says it will produce up to 100 million litres of e-fuel each year at full operation.

    Mr Hernandez says that would reduce global carbon dioxide levels by about 260,000 tonnes a year, the equivalent of decarbonising 52,000 cars.
    ...
    Tasmania is already 100 per cent self-sufficient in terms of its renewable energy generation, and plans to double its renewable energy generation levels by 2040.

    In a joint release, Premier Jeremy Rockliff and Energy Minister Guy Barnett say the proposal is in its early stages but is "a further sign that Tasmania's ambitious renewable energy plans are attracting premium world-wide investment".

    No subsidies necessary when you have plenty of renewable energy available. Build and they will come.

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    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoFiw2jMy-0

    Parent

• Synthetic fuels Synthetic fuels (Score: 3, Informative) by bradley13 on Tuesday July 12 2022, @06:32AM (1 child)

  by bradley13 (3053) on Tuesday July 12 2022, @06:32AM (#1260060) Homepage Journal

  Producing synthetic fuel make a lot of sense. But: hydrogen? Hydrogen is hard to contain, permeates metals to make them brittle, and is just generally a PITA to deal with.

  Although the production process requires additional steps, it seems that methane would be a smarter choice. We already have the infrastructure to deal with methane. Generally speaking, it has all of the advantages of synthetic hydrogen, without the disadvantages.

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  Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.

  • Re:Synthetic fuels (Score: 5, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 12 2022, @07:20AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 12 2022, @07:20AM (#1260073)

    RTFS.

    The plant will use renewable energy to split water into oxygen and hydrogen using a 250 megawatt capacity electrolyser. Carbon dioxide is then filtered from the air and is combined with the green hydrogen to produce synthetic methanol, which is then converted into fuel using a methanol-to-gasoline technology licensed by ExxonMobil.

    Parent