Synthetic fuels, or electrofuels, are produced by recombining hydrogen and carbon dioxide, composed of carbon and oxygen. VIDEOGRAPHIC
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00:00Synthetic fuels, or electrofuels, are produced by recombining hydrogen and carbon dioxide,
00:13composed of carbon and oxygen.
00:16The carbon dioxide is captured from industrial emissions and eventually directly from the
00:20air.
00:21It is neutral in terms of its contribution to global warming because it is already in
00:26the atmosphere and not from hydrocarbons extracted from underground.
00:31The hydrogen is produced by the electrolysis of water, which involves breaking up the water
00:36molecule into two separate molecules, H2 and O2.
00:43To be decarbonised, the green hydrogen must be produced using electricity, which is itself
00:49carbon free.
00:51Then the hydrogen and the CO2 are heated to a very high temperature to be combined into
00:56a synthetic gas, which then undergoes a catalytic chemical reaction, transforming it into a
01:03liquid fuel, methanol, whose chemical formula is CH3OH, diesel or kerosene.
01:10These fuels can be used directly in existing internal combustion engines, but the production
01:16costs are very high because the electrolysis of water is a process which requires a lot
01:21of energy.
01:22These synthetic fuels are not intended to be generally used by individual road vehicles,
01:28where the main path for decarbonisation is via electric batteries.
01:31They are instead aimed at air and sea transport, which are difficult to electrify.