Last November, Audi unveiled their e-diesel research facility and the company has now announced that they have successfully produced their first batch of e-diesel.
Germany's Federal Minister of Education and Research, Prof. Dr Johanna Wanka said, “This synthetic diesel, made using CO2, is a huge success for our sustainability research. If we can make widespread use of CO2 as a raw material, we will make a crucial contribution to climate protection and the efficient use of resources, and put the fundamentals of the 'green economy' in place.”
e-diesel is produced using the 'power-to-liquid principle' and only requires carbon dioxide, water and electricity as raw materials.
The 4-step process of production includes Ecological power generation, electrolysis, conversion and processing. An energetic liquid, made up of hydrocarbon compounds, called Blue Crude is created from hydrogen and carbon dioxide. Depending on the application, Blue Crude can be refined, for example in a refinery. The product of this refining is called e-diesel which can be used in cars, for chemistry purposes, ships, planes and industries as well. Blue Crude being an eco-friendly fuel, will not pollute whatever the application maybe.