As the push for decarbonization in the transportation sector gathers momentum, electrofuels — also known as eFuels, which are produced by using electricity to combine the hydrogen molecules from water with the carbon from carbon dioxide (CO2) — are beginning to attract attention as an alternative fuel with three important selling points in today’s environment. First, eFuels are available now and can be made with current technology, although there is a lot of room for future improvements and growth. Second, because they are considered drop-in replacements, they are essentially indistinguishable from the fossil-based conventional fuels in use today, which means they can be used without any changes to the existing energy infrastructure. Third, they can capitalize on a rapidly growing set of hydrogen and CO2 suppliers eager to secure a diversified set of offtakers. In today’s RBN blog, we look at HIF Global’s approach to eFuels production, its demonstration plant in Chile and its big plans for Texas and beyond.
RBN Energy’s US CO₂ Infrastructure map brings together legacy Enhanced Oil Recovery (EOR) assets, as well as announced large-scale Carbon Capture and Sequestration (CCS) and Carbon Capture, Utilization and Sequestration (CCUS) projects, all in our signature concise, accurate, and intelligible style.
As we noted in Part 1 of this series, there are a number of alternative fuels and government policies that support them. That includes ethanol, a biofuel found in virtually all of the gasoline purchased in the U.S.; biodiesel, another biofuel that is produced from a variety of feedstocks, including corn oil, soybean oil, animal fats, and used cooking oil; renewable diesel (RD), a biomass-based fuel that can be used in diesel engines or as home heating oil; and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), which is also made from renewable feedstocks and is a substitute for jet fuel (see our Come Clean series to learn more). RD and SAF are especially important because, like eFuels, they are considered drop-in replacements for conventional diesel and jet fuel, respectively. We should note that although eFuels have the same CO2 emissions as conventional fuels when used, the carbon savings come from how they are produced and their reliance on large volumes of CO2 captured either from the atmosphere via direct air capture (DAC) or directly from industrial sources, resulting in fuels with about a 95% reduction in lifecycle CO2 emissions. The process essentially recycles CO2 that is already in the atmosphere to create new fuels.
In our previous blog, we outlined the eFuels production process being developed by California-based Infinium, which begins by running water through an electrolyzer that is powered by renewable energy to produce green hydrogen. The next step is to combine that hydrogen with CO2 captured from nearby sources, such as natural gas processing, steel production, or other industrial activities. The process results in three end products — what Infinium calls eDiesel, eSAF, and eNaphtha — with the product mix varying based on project and offtake demand. (Naphtha is a product of processed crude oil and is a critical component in the manufacture of many plastics and chemicals — see Through the Looking Glass for more.)
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About the song
“Just a Little Bit Better” was written by Kenny Young, who released a single of it under his name in October 1964. Songwriter Young’s best-known song was “Under the Boardwalk,” a 1964 hit for The Drifters, which he co-wrote with Artie Resnick. Herman’s Hermits released their version of the song as a single in September 1965. It went to #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 Singles chart. It was recorded in July 1965 at De Lane Lea Studios in London and produced by Mickie Most. The song appears as the first song on side two of The Best of Herman’s Hermits LP, released in 1965, and on their 1966 EP, A Must to Avoid. Personnel on the record were: Peter Noone (lead vocals), Derek “Lek” Leckenby (lead guitar), Keith Hopwood (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Karl Green (bass, backing vocals), and Barry Whitwam (drums).
Herman’s Hermits are an English pop group formed in Manchester, England, in 1964 and fronted by vocalist Peter Noone. Noone was only 15 when he joined the group and was already known in the UK as a featured actor on the popular British television soap opera Coronation Street. The band’s name came from a resemblance between Noone and the character Sherman on the Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon show. Sherman was shortened to Herman. They were discovered by Manager Harvey Lisberg, who hooked them up with hit-making record producer Mickie Most in London. Most used session musicians on a lot of the records he produced (including future Led Zeppelin members Jimmy Page and John Paul Jones), but Herman’s Hermits played on all of their hit records. They had 11 Top 140 hits under Most’s tutelage. They have released eight studio albums, 10 compilation albums, seven EPs, and 29 singles. The group has appeared in four motion pictures, two of which were promotional vehicles for the band. Nine members have passed through the group since its formation. Peter Noone still does concert dates with a group billed as “Herman’s Hermits starring Peter Noone.” He is currently booked for weekend concert dates in the U.S. going into the summer of 2023.
