Synthetic fuels for the mobility of the future

An interdisciplinary team of engineers and economists investigates synthetic fuels with regard to their suitability as sustainable fuels for future mobility. A particular focus lies on the effects of different electricity market designs on the production costs of the fuels. The results show that the energy market regime can have a considerable influence on production costs as well as on the optimal design of the production process.

Research question

Which synthetic fuels offers the lowest mobility costs?
What influence does the electricity market design have on the production costs?

Methodology

Setting up a linear optimization problem to determine the cost-minimal process chain
Calibration of the model with parameters for the year 2035

Results

LOHC based hydrogen mobility combines the advantage of high efficiency and existing infrastructure and thus enables the lowest mobility costs.
The electricity market design has a significant impact on the production costs of synthetic fuels. Regionally differentiated prices can reduce mobility costs by up to 40%.

Publication

Runge, P., Sölch, C., Albert, J., Wasserscheid, P., Zöttl, G., & Grimm, V. (2018). Economic comparison of different electric fuels for energy scenarios in 2035. Applied Energy. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.apenergy.2018.10.023