German researchers are currently testing a synthetic diesel that, with more alcohol, is almost as climate-friendly as the electricity that electric cars run on.
Last year, the EU decided to ban new cars with internal combustion engines from 2035. However, synthetic fuel is exempt. Now German researchers have mixed artificial diesel with alcohol.
And that is perhaps the salvation of the internal combustion engine. At least if you ask researchers from the Max Planck Institute in Berlin.
The scientists have not invented a new fuel. But they claim to have refined the already existing technology behind the production of synthetic diesel. This has been done, among other things, by adding large amounts of pure alcohol, ethanol.
That's what Auto Bild writes.
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The aim, say the researchers, is to make the transport sector more climate-friendly. They have published their results in the journal 'Nature'.
The German researchers call the synthetic diesel 'HyFiT'. The preliminary tests show that by adding between 20 and 40 percent alcohol to the synthetic diesel, you can get a fuel where CO2 emissions fall by three to five percent.
At the same time, the particle emissions themselves fall by up to 70 percent. According to Auto Bild, this means that the synthetic diesel is on par with the emissions from the electricity produced for electric trucks if the artificial fuel is produced from biomass.
The German researchers write in their conclusion that they see HyFiT diesel as a supplement to the electrification of the heavy transport sector.
The German researchers, who have received help from some colleagues in Switzerland, are not the only ones experimenting with synthetic fuels.
The car factories do the same. Porsche is one of the brands that is furthest ahead with the idea. The car brand already has a production plant for synthetic gasoline up and running in Chile. And more factories are on the way.
Recently, both Ferrari and Koenigsegg have backed the production of synthetic fuels. And Toyota has the same thoughts. The Japanese even burn hydrogen in some prototype cars.
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