MAN Energy Solutions is to supply the methanol reactor for an eFuels pilot plant currently being built by HIF, an international e-fuels company based in Chile, with the participation of Porsche AG together with Siemens Energy and other project companies near the southern Chilean city of Punta Arenas.

The “Haru Oni” pilot project takes advantage of the wind conditions in southern Chile to generate synthetic, climate-neutral fuel − called eFuels − with the help of renewable power. According to the company, Chile offers ideal conditions for the production of green hydrogen and synthetic fuels made from it.

eFuels production to start in 2022

In the first process step, electrolyzers use wind power to split water molecules into their basic components, oxygen and hydrogen. The green hydrogen is then combined with CO₂ filtered from the air in MAN Energy Solutions' methanol reactor. The result: green methanol, which is then converted into climate-neutral gasoline in a further step. In the pilot phase, the large-scale plant is expected to produce around 130,000 liters of eFuels as early as 2022. In two steps, capacity will be increased to around 55 MM liters of eFuels per year by 2024 and to around 550 MM liters of eFuels per year by 2026.

“Synthetic fuels are an important component on the road to a climate-neutral future. They have the potential to decarbonize all those sectors and processes where direct electrification is not possible or practical,” said Uwe Lauber, CEO at MAN Energy Solutions. “Back in 2013, MAN commissioned what is currently Europe's largest methanation reactor for Audi in Werlte, which has since supplied 1,500 vehicles a year with climate-neutral, synthetic natural gas. We are pleased to contribute our chemical engineering expertise to this project as well.”