World’s Largest E-Fuel Production Plant Is Coming to Texas

by Peter Holderith (The Drive) The Porsche-backed startup behind the project hopes it’ll help bring e-fuel prices down into the sanity range. -- Porsche-backed HIF Global has received approval to begin construction of the world's largest e-fuels production facility in Texas. This campus will be the company's second after its pilot site in Chile and will eventually produce enough hydrogen-based fuel for 400,000 cars. It will be the first commercial-scale e-fuels plant in the world, a vital step toward proving that the technology has legs.

The company's small site in South America produces a minuscule amount of e-fuel exclusively for Porsche, using renewable energy and carbon dioxide captured directly from the atmosphere. It's unclear where HIF Global's new facility in Matagorda, about two hours south of Houston, will get its energy, or its carbon, for that matter. The company has stated its hydrogen will be sourced through electrolysis—Matagorda is on the Gulf Coast—though the use of renewable energy is essential for e-fuels to make sense from an environmental perspective.

The sort of e-fuels HIF Global produces are drop-in compatible with regular gasoline-powered cars.

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That being said, e-fuels are not an efficient way to use energy. As Hydrogen Insightnotes, it takes 100 kilowatt hours of energy to create just 13 kilowatt-hours worth of e-fuel which will be burned at low efficiency. For reference, a single gallon of gasoline contains around 33.5 kWh of energy. EVs, on the other hand, use about 77 kWh of that theoretical 100 kWh of energy. If an excess of renewable energy is available, though, the actual carbon impact of using e-fuels is negligible.

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HIF says "as the production of e-fuels on an industrial scale with direct air capture becomes established, production of around €2 per liter can arise." That would translate into a fuel price of around $9 per gallon, or in the neighborhood of European fuel prices. Compared to the high upfront cost of electrifying, that's a price some in the United States may be willing to pay.

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Stellantis, for instance, has been testing many of its engines to run on the fuel, as its CEO Carlos Tavares isn't sold on electrification, to say the least. The biggest boon to the technology, however, was when it got carved out of the EU's internal combustion ban. READ MORE

HIF Global initiates engineering for U.S. Sustainable Aviation Fuel facility, selects Johnson Matthey & Honeywell technologies (HIF Global/PR Newswire)

Excerpt from HIF Global/PR Newswire: HIF intends to produce ~11,000 barrels per day of eSAF by 2030, decarbonizing ~12 billion air passenger miles per year in its second U.S. facility --

HIF Global, the world's leading eFuels company, today announced agreements with Johnson Matthey and Honeywell to conduct preliminary engineering for HIF's first Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) facility in the United States. The facility would produce approximately 11,000 barrels per day of eSAF, decarbonizing over 12 billion air passenger miles per year.¹

eSAF is sustainable aviation fuel made by combining recycled carbon dioxide (CO₂) with hydrogen produced using renewable electricity. eSAF can be dropped-in to existing jet engines without any modifications required.

Meg Gentle, Executive Director of HIF Global, said, "eFuels are a replacement for fossil fuels and are a necessary solution for decarbonizing global transportation. At HIF Global, we have already demonstrated the capability to produce eMethanol for marine transport and eGasoline for road transport with the 2022 start-up of the HIF Haru Oni Demonstration Facility in southern Patagonia, Chile, where the wind is blowing all the time. Together with Johnson Matthey and Honeywell, we intend to deliver an eFuel solution for airplanes before 2030."

Renato Pereira, CEO of HIF USA, added, "Air travel is the most challenging sector of the global transportation infrastructure to decarbonize, with limited low carbon alternatives to serve growing demand for jet fuel. The simplicity of eFuels is that they are produced from air and water for use in existing engines. eSAF produced using Honeywell's technology can reduce CO₂emissions compared to conventional jet fuel by 88%.² When blended with conventional jet fuel, eSAF can be dropped-in immediately to existing jet engines with no modifications required."

Johnson Matthey's technology will use green hydrogen and recycled CO₂to produce eMethanol which can be used in the shipping and chemical industries or upgraded into other eFuels including eSAF. Johnson Matthey's technology is producing eMethanol today at the HIF Haru Oni Demonstration Plant in Chile.

The Honeywell UOP eFining™ technology processes eMethanol into a light olefin stream utilizing Honeywell's methanol to olefins process, which is then oligomerized, hydrogenated and finally fractionated to produce eSAF. The technology offers a highly integrated design that can process flexible feedstocks using commercially proven processes, resulting in operational reliability, minimized capital expenditures, and low energy intensity.

Alberto Giovanzana, Chief Commercial Officer of Catalyst Technologies at Johnson Matthey, said: "We are very excited to be collaborating again with HIF, offering JM's CO2-to-methanol technology in this leading eFuels project. JM's sustained innovation on methanol process and catalyst technology is allowing us to move at scale and pace in one of the routes to eSAF that enables the transition to net zero."

"As the leader in renewable fuel technology, Honeywell is well aware that creating technologies that can use additional feedstocks is vital to long-term decarbonization of the aviation sector," said Lucian Boldea, president and CEO of Honeywell Performance Materials and Technologies. "The ability to partner with an industry leader like HIF Global to use readily abundant CO₂ to produce eSAF is a transformational opportunity for this market."

About HIF Global
HIF Global is the world's leading eFuels company, developing projects to convert hydrogen using low cost renewable power into carbon neutral liquid eFuels that can be transported and utilized in existing infrastructure. The name HIF represents the mission of the company: to provide Highly Innovative Fuels to make decarbonization of the planet possible. HIF Chile, HIF USA, HIF Asia Pacific, and HIF EMEA are wholly owned subsidiaries of HIF Global. HIF Global started producing the first liters of synthetic Fuels from the Haru Oni Demonstration Facility in Magallanes, Chile in December 2022 and intends to begin construction of the commercial scale HIF Matagorda eFuels Facility in Texas in 2024. HIF Global's first Australian development, in Tasmania, was announced in July 2022. For more information, visit www.hifglobal.com.

About Johnson Matthey
Johnson Matthey is a global leader in sustainable technologies, catalyzing the net zero transition. With over 200 years of sustained commitment to innovation and technological breakthroughs, we improve the performance, function and safety of our customers' products. Our science has a global impact in areas such as low emission transport, energy, chemical processing and making the most efficient use of the planet's natural resources. Today, about 13,000 Johnson Matthey professionals collaborate with our network of customers and partners to make a real difference to the world around us. For more information visit www.matthey.com.

About Honeywell
Honeywell delivers industry-specific solutions that include aerospace products and services; control technologies for buildings and industry; and performance materials globally. Our technologies help aircraft, buildings, manufacturing plants, supply chains, and workers become more connected to make our world smarter, safer, and more sustainable. For more news and information on Honeywell, visit https://www.honeywell.com/us/en/news READ MORE