Automotive: synthetic fuel, a revolution?

Is it the fuel of the future, the one that will allow our gasoline or diesel engines to run without polluting? Or on the contrary a false promise put forward by car manufacturers to avoid the transition to all-electric? In a research center in western Germany, around 100 million euros have been invested in the development of these synthetic fuels.

A neutral carbon footprint

To make them, you first have to capture CO2. “We use CO2 and hydrogen. These fuels are a neutral solution to CO2 because the gas is drawn from the ambient air”, explains Roland Dittmeyer, director of the Institute for Micro Process Engineering Karlsruhe (Germany). Tests confirm it: current internal combustion engines can run on these new fuels. They still release CO2 but no more than is needed to manufacture it. The carbon footprint is therefore neutral. But its price would approach three euros per litre.