Benefits of synthetic fuels
Local emission benefits
Road trials of synthetic fuels in several European capitals and elsewhere demonstrate that synthetic fuels provide significant local air quality improvement by reducing tailpipe emissions (particulate matter, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons). Whereas the application of successive Euro-standards applies to new vehicles only, the introduction of synthetic fuels will have an immediate positive impact on the local emissions from the existing vehicle fleet, particularly in urban areas. When engines are optimised to run on synthetic fuels further reductions of nitrogen oxides can be obtained.
Greenhouse gas emissions
The environmental attributes of the conventional and synthetic fuel technologies are assessed by measuring the impact caused through production, transportation and fuel usage, the so-called well to wheel basis or life cycle assessment. Industry studies show that greenhouse gas emissions of the GTL process are comparable to a refinery system (+/- 5%). Relative to a refinery system, BTL offers clear benefits in the range of 60 to 90% improvement. CTL has a carbon penalty, which can be reduced through CO2 sequestration. By linking development of advanced engine and synthetic fuels production technology it is expected that greater vehicle efficiency gains will lead to further reductions in CO2 emissions.
