Synthetic fuel: the hydrogen advantage

A study conducted by France Hydrogène shows that France has around twenty hydrogen projects currently being set up, at different levels of maturity, intended for the production of efuels, which should mobilize a production capacity of more than 400,000 tonnes of hydrogen, or 38% of the total capacity by 2030!

Pour France Hydrogène, this high level, well above the initial prospects, is notably linked to the European objectives of deployment of RNFBO14 in transport (overall), of RED III (2.6% by 2030 – Commission proposal) and even more of the RePowerEU plan (5.7% by 2030), as well as to the establishment (in progress) of sectoral objectives for aeronautics (ReFuelEU Aviation) and maritime transport (FuelEU Maritime).

Indeed, for their most important uses (container ships, bulk carriers, long-haul aircraft, etc.), these two sectors are particularly difficult to electrify and therefore have a limited number of options. Hydrogen and its derivatives, efuels, are part of this, which is leading these sectors to invest in it. More specifically, for the aviation sector, in its proposal for a ReFuelEU Aviation regulation, the Commission is introducing a quota of 0.7% of renewable efuels in aviation by 2030, and a target of 5% in 2035. Based on kerosene consumption in France of around 7 million tonnes per year in 2019, this implies a need for around 50,000 tonnes of kerosene per year, or between 15,000 and 30,000 tonnes of hydrogen by 2030 excluding growth in air traffic. By 2035, the amount of hydrogen needed to manufacture synthetic fuels would increase from 105,000 to 210,000 tonnes per year, which would lead to the launch of large-scale projects at the end of the decade and is in line with the strong deployment of the synthetic molecules sector. These orders of magnitude show that compliance with these regulations requires the deployment of significant renewable hydrogen production capacities now.

In the case of the maritime sector, there was no equivalent regulatory quota. However, on 20 October 2022, the European Parliament adopted a target of 2% RFNBO by 2030, which will now be discussed in the trilogue negotiations with the Council and the European Commission.

Production d’efuel

However, the establishment of efuel production lines in France will involve large-scale industrial and territorial ecology projects, integrated across the entire value chain (decarbonized electricity production, hydrogen production and storage, CO capture and recovery).₂transport and distribution, conversion of new uses, etc.).

Some projects are clearly identified with the creation of consortia of complementary actors, such as the REUZE project between ENGIE, Infinium and ArcelorMittal to convert 300,000 tonnes of CO₂ in 100,000 tonnes of efuel at the port of Dunkirk17 or the Hynovi project, selected by the State as part of the IPCEI Hydrogen and currently being notified to the European Commission, developed by Hynamics, EDF group, in partnership with the cement manufacturer Vicat at the Montalieu cement plant in Isère. In addition to the production of 200 kt of synthetic methanol per year produced using a 330 MW electrolyser and 300 kt of CO₂ fatal captured, the oxygen co-produced by the electrolyser will be used in the cement plant furnaces in an oxycombustion process promoting the concentration of CO₂ in the fumes and therefore its capture. Other projects remain more prospective, but reveal significant potential for decarbonization.

Electrolysis and organic materials

It is important to note that efuels “made in France” will have to face increasingly strong global competition: the cost of electrolytic hydrogen depends above all on the cost of electricity used for the production of decarbonized hydrogen by water electrolysis. Due to the very competitive cost of photovoltaics in very sunny countries, some major manufacturers are considering producing hydrogen on site and then importing it, sometimes in the form of cryogenic hydrogen but especially in the form of synthetic molecules (e.g. ammonia) to reduce transport costs, with a challenge to be met: access to the necessary quantities of carbon (but not for ammonia!).

It should be noted that other methods of producing hydrogen, particularly from organic materials, allow the production of synthetic fuel and fertilizers and the sequestration of carbon in their process.