Haru Oni Project: first e-fuel plant in Latin America

Fuel from water and wind

The next step towards decarbonizing the global transport sector begins in a windy region in southern Chile.

The Haru Oni project, officially, has taken its first steps in Punta Arenas (Chile). The virtually CO2-neutral fuel plant is an initiative of Porsche, Siemens Energy, and several international companies. Using wind energy and water, they will produce green hydrogen that will later be used to obtain synthetic methanol. Porsche will start using e-fuels in its combustion vehicles in 2022.

The impact:

In the pilot phase, e-Methanol production will initially reach around 750,000 liters per year by 2022. Part of the e-Methanol will be converted into e-Gasoline (130,000 liters per year). In two steps, it is planned to increase capacity to 55 million liters of e-Gasoline per year by 2024 and more than 550 million liters per year by 2026.

What does this mean?

It's almost enough fuel to allow about a million people to drive their car for a year!

Why is it important?

This project is an important step towards decarbonizing society. With Haru Oni's focus on the production of green fuels (to be supplied) to Europe and other regions) steps are taken to contribute to the "Green Deal".

The "Green Deal" is a commitment by the European Commission to promote the EU's 2030 climate target, which would lead to Europe being the first climate-neutral continent by 2050. The transport and industry sectors are collectively responsible for 45 percent of global CO2 emissions. In these sectors, renewable energy sources have only reduced emissions by less than eight percent.

The decarbonization of transport and industry is more complex and costly compared to the energy sector. This is why the EU is now also gradually including road traffic and the construction sector in the emission allowance scheme. In addition, the Commission plans to significantly adjust the CO2 limits for vehicles carrying passengers. This is also exactly where, in combination with electrification, fuels generated from renewable sources will come into play.

The Haru Oni project is demonstrating a broad spectrum of innovative and climate-relevant technologies in one place.

Synthetic fuel is produced from water, wind energy and, CO2 captured from the air. It is a carrier of liquid energy that emits about 90 percent less CO2 than its fossil counterpart. In the case of e-gasoline, it is simultaneously compatible with the existing liquid fuel infrastructure.

Why Chile?

Due to its excellent wind conditions and low electricity prices, Chile has a very high potential for the production, export, and local use of green hydrogen in international comparison. In addition, exports in the form of liquid fuels are the best way to take advantage of wind energy, readily available in Magallanes.

How does the Haru Oni Project work?

The project will use clean wind energy to initially produce green hydrogen.

First, electrolyzers use wind energy to split water into its components, oxygen, and hydrogen. Siemens Energy's PEM (Proton Exchange Membrane) electrolysis, with its high efficiency and flexibility, is ideal for harnessing both wind and solar volatile energy.

The CO2 is then captured from the air and combined with green hydrogen to produce synthetic methanol – the basis of climate-neutral fuels such as e-diesel, e-petrol, or e-kerosene, which can be used for cars, trucks, ships, or aircraft.

In a third step of the process, approximately 40% of the methanol is converted into synthetic gasoline.

E-Methanol: gray to green

Methanol is a universal chemical compound that today is still produced from coal and natural gas (H2 and CO).

It´s used in large quantities (more than 98 Mt in 2019), mainly as a raw material for chemicals (80 percent), and in smaller volumes as an energy carrier. It becomes sustainable or "green" when produced from renewable hydrogen of biological (bio-methanol) or electrochemical (e-methanol) origin and recycled CO2.

Many areas and their populations around the world would benefit from becoming players in an e-methanol economy, including desert areas with no resources to produce green energy from biomass, windy regions with little or no industrial development, and oil-exporting countries that are looking for new business opportunities.

Porsche will use these e-fuels

Porsche announced that will use the e-fuels produced at Haru Oni in its combustion engine vehicles.

" We consider ourselves pioneers when it comes to renewable fuels and, we want to boost development. This fits in with our clear overall sustainability strategy," commented Michael Steiner, Member of the Executive Committee for Research and Development at Porsche AG.

He explained that e-fuels would reduce fossil CO2 emissions in combustion engines by up to 90%. "We will use Chile's first fuel in our Porsche Mobil 1 Supercup race cars from 2022".

sources:

siemens-energy.com

forbes.com.mx

valoraanalitik.com

Haru Oni Project: first e-fuel plant in Latin America.