Audi produces synthetic diesel from freely available carbon dioxide

The German car manufacturer Audi has successfully created a synthetic diesel fuel from carbon dioxide.

Through its project partner Sunfire, Audi says it hopes that it can make a significant contribution to the production of high quality carbon neutral fuel using this method.

The only raw materials needed are water and carbon dioxide. The CO2 used is currently supplied by a biogas facility. In addition, initially a portion of the CO2 needed is extracted from the ambient air by means of direct air capturing.

Reiner Mangold, Head of Sustainable Product Development at Audi, sees Audi e‑diesel and Audi e‑fuels in general as an important component that complements electric mobility: “In developing Audi e-diesel we are promoting another fuel based on CO2 that will allow long‑distance mobility with virtually no impact on the climate. Using CO2 as a raw material represents an opportunity not just for the automotive industry in Germany, but also to transfer the principle to other sectors and countries.”

Meanwhile, Canadian company Carbon Engineering, is also capturing carbon dioxide from air so for the production of fuel.

Partly funded by Microsoft founder, Bill Gates, the Alberta based company says: "There are several attractive ways in which CO2 can be captured from the atmosphere, and integrated into liquid fuel production to produce liquid hydrocarbons that are fully compatible with today’s transport infrastructure, but have a low (or even zero) carbon intensity.

"CO2 from the atmosphere can be supplied for enhanced oil recovery. Once the produced oil is refined and the fuel is burned, the life-cycle carbon intensity is still less than half of today’s conventional fuels."

Atmospheric CO2 can be captured and supplied for algae growth in industrial-scale ponds. The algae can be processed and refined into bio-fuels.

There is a growing market demand for liquid fuels with low life-cycle carbon-intensity. California now has a low carbon fuel standard in effect, and similar initiatives are under way in other states, British Columbia, and Europe.