SPECIAL REPORT | NUCLEAR SYNFUELS
Nuclear’s pursuit of synfuels
With the clock ticking in the run up to net zero emissions, synfuels are seen as a key plank in the energy transition. What role can nuclear play in the production of synfuels?
By Tim Nadin
GOVERNMENTS ARE INCREASINGLY RECOGNISING THAT net zero solutions must be found and implemented urgently in order to meet global decarbonisation targets. Despite the impressive growth of renewables, almost all credible pathways to net zero argue this will require more than a green electricity system. Renewables and other forms of low-carbon electricity are certainly important, but decarbonising transport and heavy industry will also need low-carbon alternatives to fossil fuels. As Luis del Barrio, partner at the Madrid office of the energy & utilities practice at Arthur D. Little explains: “Electricity is not the only solution. In order to really achieve decarbonisation, we need a broader portfolio and toolkit.” One area of growing interest is synthetic fuels or synfuels,
low-carbon equivalents of conventional liquid fossil fuels. Indeed, Dr Charles Forsberg, principal research scientist at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), notes: “In the US oil products provide almost half the energy to the final consumer: residential, commercial, industrial and transportation. Electricity is less than 20% of the energy delivered to the final customer. Replace oil and decarbonise half the economy. The implied market for hydrogen and heat is larger than the electricity market.”
Typically, synfuels are compliant with international fuel
standards and possess the same energy density as their fossil fuel equivalents. They can be deployed in sectors that are often considered hard to reach, notably transport. Unlike biofuels, synfuels are not necessarily reliant on organic materials to provide the molecular inputs of carbon and hydrogen. They therefore have a greater potential to scale to the larger volumes needed. Crucially, these drop-in synfuels are able to use the same distribution infrastructure and, perhaps more importantly, existing assets like aircraft or heavy goods vehicles, without modification. Conserving existing internal combustion engines and all of the related fuel infrastructure represents both a considerable carbon saving and a substantial economic gain. “A plane that runs with kerosene can run with synfuels without any modification. We don’t have to make any modification in almost the entire supply chain. For the production of aviation fuel we just change the oil refineries to hydrogen production plants, the same for ships and heavy duty trucks. Therefore, if we have a circular economic vision, synthetic fuel could be the most sustainable way to decarbonise the economy because we are increasing the
Right:
An artist’s rendering of the Dow site in Texas with the proposed X-Energ nuclear installation Source: Dow
22 | December 2023 |
www.neimagazine.com
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