Concawe Review 33.1
I am pleased to introduce this new edition of the Concawe Review, which focuses mainly on topics related to the potential contribution of the fuel manufacturing industry and the role of liquid fuels to the energy transition towards a low greenhouse gas economy.
The first article refers to the renewal of an essential tool, Concawe’s linear programming (LP) model representing the EU refining industry, which is used to evaluate the economic impact on the refining sector of changes in EU legislation or market demand. The current LP model, representing the combination of all refineries operating in the EU-27 + Norway, Switzerland and the UK, was limited to traditional refining processes and could not integrate the low-carbon processes which will be at the heart of the refining transition. The article describes the new LP model, which has been developed as a more flexible and reliable tool that is now able to integrate and simulate the new processes for low-carbon fuels pathways, green hydrogen and carbon capture, and integrate the RED (Renewable Energy Directive) targets.
E-fuels—synthetic fuels produced by the combination of hydrogen from water electrolysis powered by renewable electricity and captured CO₂—are identified as one of the essential elements for the decarbonisation of hard-to-abate sectors (aviation, maritime, etc.). The second article summarises an update of a techno-environmental and economic analysis of the different e-fuels production pathways in different regions of the world. It integrates an assessment of the impact of intermittency and seasonality of renewable energy supply on storage requirements, synthesis plant sizing and production costs, which was not evaluated in our previous study, as well as a comparison of e-fuels production costs versus fossil fuels/biofuels/e-fuels produced from nuclear electricity.
In a previous Concawe Review (Vol. 32, No. 1), we described the project which led to the development of the passenger car CO₂ comparator (available on Concawe’s website), which is recognized as one of the best tools available to compare the CO₂ emissions of different powertrains as a function of the type of technology, region, driver’s profile, energy carrier, etc. The third article in this Review describes the development of a similar life-cycle assessment tool for heavy-duty vehicles, which was developed with the help of IFPEN. This easy-to-use interactive tool to compare the CO₂ intensity of various heavy-duty transport technology and usage options is also available on the Concawe website.
The fourth article provides a summary of a ‘deep dive’ study on the decarbonisation of the aviation industry. Part of Concawe’s Low Carbon Pathways project, the study integrates the anticipated developments in aircraft technologies and their deployment pathways, and highlights the challenges associated with the decarbonisation of this hard-to-abate sector, and the essential role of drop-in sustainable aviation fuels in reaching this objective.
I thank the authors for sharing their valuable insights into one of the biggest challenges faced by our industry and society in general.
Jean-Marc Sohier
Concawe Director