Audi has commenced production on a pilot plant at Dresden in Germany which will produce diesel fuel from water, CO2 and green electricity.
Developed in collaboration with Climeworks and Sunfire, the plant is located at Sunfire's grounds, and is expected to produce 160 liters of Blue Crude per day, out of which 80% can be converted into synthetic diesel.
Carbon dioxide, water and electricity are the raw materials used at the Sunfire plant which operates according to the power-to-liquid principle.
The fuel produced is named Audi e-diesel which is expected to have chemical properties which ignites easily and can use as a drop-in fuel.
Audi is combining two technologies in this project and it facilitates CO2 capturing from the ambient air along with production of synthetic fuel through power to liquid process.
The project is backed by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research.
This is not the pilot project for Audi as it is already producing e gas (synthetic methane) at its plant in Werlte, Lower Saxony that is used in Audi A3 Sportback g tron.
Image: Audi e-fuel plant. Photo: courtesy of Audi AG.
