So far, in the race to cut down on vehicle emissions, the automotive industry has been heavily investing in electrification. There have been some efforts by automakers, such as Toyota, to produce alternative Fuel vehicles, though those efforts have yet to amount to much thus far.

However, Porsche might be onto a new alternative fuel source that could be a game changer: air.

Introducing Direct Air Capture Technology

DAC technology is produced at the Haru Oni demonstration Plant in Chile, which takes air from the atmosphere to make a potentially sustainable e-fuel.

Extracting CO2 from the atmosphere, DAC will combine it with green hydrogen sourced from wind-generated energy to synthesize methanol that will then be processed into e-fuel. This would essentially be a Synthetically Created Petrol.

Supposedly, it could also be proposed as fuel for aviation jets. It has some significant applications.

What would be nice about this synthetically created petrol replacement is that if the DAC technology that produces it becomes large-scale enough in the future, it’s so chemically similar to fossil fuels that it could be distributed using existing gasoline-based infrastructures. It could power existing vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICEs), inevitably making ICE fans rejoice. 

How It Works

Utilizing biomass, the Haru Oni plant’s process is CO2 neutral because all the plant matter grew while it absorbed the CO2. So, the process of extracting it doesn't create any new CO2. What’s great is how convenient the DAC process is. Plants can be set up wherever needed, and gas production can be scaled to whatever volume is required to meet the demand for green fuel.

This is even better because the process's only by-product is water. DAC will first clean the atmosphere by removing dirt particles, then run it through a filter, after which the CO2 is finally extracted when the material is heated.

Powering this endeavor is a 3.4GW Siemens Gamesa wind turbine. An energy electrolyzer then splits water into oxygen and hydrogen, producing pure hydrogen. Any excess heat from the electrolyzer is reportedly captured and used to extract CO2. It’s a very efficient process.

This process is sustainable because the carbon released from this synthetic fuel after it’s used isn’t fossil-based; since it already exists, it’s essentially just being recycled. However, while the DAC process is taking what is already in the atmosphere and repurposing it as fuel, it is not reducing CO2.

It’s also believed that this DAC process will enable the creation of plastics without using fossil fuels. So, it clearly has enormous potential. However, it’s a process that’s currently more expensive than producing gasoline, so its production costs might hamper things.

Nevertheless, DAC technology will be an exciting development to keep an eye on.