Audi has developed a new fuel for internal combustion engines that could potentially be revolutionary in its own right as carmakers do more to combat climate change. It has been able to create synthetic diesel from carbon dioxide and water. Audi’s pilot plant for this project, located in Dresden, produced its first batch of “e-diesel” this month. To commemorate this achievement German Federal Minister of Education and Research Johanna Wanka added a few litres of this synthetic fuel to her Audi A8.
Called “blue crude,” the synthetic diesel is created by using electricity from renewable sources like wind, hydropower or solar and then producing hydrogen from water through reversible electrolysis.
The obtained hydrogen is then mixed with carbon dioxide that has been converted into CO after two chemical processes, the subsequent reactions produce a liquid that’s made from long-chain hydrocarbons.
Blue crude is then refined to create synthetic e-diesel. The synthetic fuel can be used in combination with conventional diesel, a normal practice with biodiesel fuels.
Audi’s pilot plant in Dresden will be capable of producing 42 gallons of synthetic diesel per day in a few months, it plans to build a bigger plant in the future so that this can be commercialized.