Efuels developer HIF Global has received a permit from the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality for the construction and operation of its planned facility in Matagorda County. The facility is expected to produce and use 300,000t/yr of green hydrogen as well as 2mn t/yr of CO₂ captured from the atmosphere.

“In Texas, we are taking efuels to the next level of commercial scale, and we are now permitted to construct the largest efuels facility in the world, to produce approximately 200mn gallons per year of shipping fuel and e-gasoline, the equivalent of decarbonising over 400,000 cars on the road today,” says Meg Gentle, executive director of HIF’s board.

The company expects to complete financing and begin construction on the plant in 2024, with startup in 2027. HIF has already contracted Siemens to supply 1.8GW of proton-exchange-membrane electrolysers and is exploring integration of services provider Baker Hughes’ direct air capture technology as part of an agreement signed in March.

“We are now permitted to construct the largest efuels facility in the world” Gentle, HIF

HIF started producing e-gasoline from its Haru Oni plant in Chile last December. Earlier this month, it signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Japan’s Idemitsu Kosan, which will purchase efuels from the firm’s global facilities, co-invest in potential new projects in Japan and supply CO₂ captured in Japan for use in efuels production.

Efuels have been criticised as a way to extend the use of internal-combustion-engine (ICE) vehicles. Last month, Germany threatened to block an EU deal to ban the sale of new ICE vehicles unless an exemption was made for running them on efuels. NGO Transport & Environment argues that allowing new ICE cars run on efuels “would only displace zero-emission alternatives (electric and hydrogen fuel-cell cars) sales without providing any additional CO₂ savings”. It adds that, by having a limited amount of efuels supply new vehicles rather than being used as a drop-in fuel to decarbonise existing cars, this proposed exemption could result in an additional 135bn l of petrol burned and 320mn t of CO₂ emissions by 2050.

HIF claims that more than 1.5bn existing vehicles globally will still require gasoline or substitute efuels “for the foreseeable future”, adding that aviation and heavy-duty transport in particular will be difficult to electrify.

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Author: Polly Martin